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PubMed2004

Pediatric electrical injuries: a review of 38 consecutive patients.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to explore the mechanisms, complications, morbidity, and mortality associated with electrical injuries in children. METHODS: The charts of pediatric patients who had been admitted to the authors' center with electrical burn injuries (EBI) between January 1993 and October 2002 were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: Of the 764 acute burn admissions over a 9-year period, 5% (38 patients) had EBI. Mean age was 9.6 +/- 4.4 years (range, 1 to 16 years). Seventy-six percent of the EBI patients were boys (M to F, 29:9), and the extent of the burn wounds ranged from 1% to 50% of total body surface area (TBSA; mean, 18.6% +/- 14.7%). High-voltage (HV) electricity accounted for 63% of the EBI (1 lightning), and 37% were caused by low-voltage (LV) current. In 19 children, serious high-voltage injuries occurred by direct contact with outlet electrical transfer wires with a metal from a balcony or with manual contact while climbing to the pole. A total of 153 surgical procedures were performed on the EBI patients, and 26% of the cases (10 of 38) required amputations. Patients who sustained HV electrical injuries had associated major complications. All of the patients underwent close cardiac monitoring, and none had cardiac complications. The average hospital stay was 23.8 +/- 14.2 (range, 2 to 48) days. One patient died of wound sepsis. CONCLUSIONS: Although not frequent, EBI remain a serious problem, particularly in adolescent boys, and short- and long-term morbidity are significant. HV injuries occur mainly in the adolescent population and require more aggressive care. Balcony injury is a specific etiology for EBI, and special consideration is required to prevent this type of injury in our country.

Accidents, Home↗
PubMed1986

Lightning causing inner ear damage and intracranial haematoma.

Lightning can transmit energy by way of the telephone network to the middle and the inner ear and thus cause pronounced injuries. In the patient mentioned here, the middle ear remained intact, while the inner ear was the seat of widespread damage combined with vascular rupture, the latter causing the formation of an intracranial haematoma. This was originally interpreted wrongly as a neoplasm.

Adult↗
PubMed1975

Electric shock.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Accidents, Home↗
PubMed1978

The blindness of Saint Paul.

The Book of Acts in the Bible relates the story of St Paul's sudden blindness and subsequent recovery of vision. St Paul was walking along when he saw a bright light; he fell down and awoke blind. He remained blind for three days, at which time his vision returned from a "laying on of hands." Numerous theories have been proposed to account for this event. A review of the available evidence suggests that there are six additional previously unreported possible causes, which are enumerated in detail.

Arterial Occlusive Diseases↗
PubMed1988

Severe sensorineural hearing loss caused by lightning. A temporal bone case report.

To our knowledge, this article represents the second temporal bone case report in the literature of profound bilateral sensorineural deafness resulting from a lightning strike to the neck. Initial survival permitted antemortem audiologic testing, the results of which suggested severe cochlear abnormalities. Both temporal bones showed widespread inner-ear changes with absent organs of Corti, rupture and collapse of Reissner's membrane, strial degeneration, and a decreased spiral ganglion cell population. The occurrence of inner-ear trauma with an intact tympanic membrane and normal middle-ear structures suggests that a mechanism other than blast injury was responsible for the pathologic changes in this case.

Adult↗
PubMed1987

Myocardial injury after electrical burns: short and long term study.

Miscellaneous cardiac abnormalities can occur after electrical burns. The long term outcomes are still unknown. We studied 10 patients, 9 of whom suffered high-voltage electrocution, and one of whom was struck by lightning. Serial electrocardiograms (ECG) and serum MB creatine phosphokinase isoenzyme (MB-CPK) activities were obtained during their stay in hospital. ECG and thallium 201 cardiac scintigraphy at rest, as well as echocardiograms were obtained in all patients 4 to 48 months after discharge. In hospital, 9 patients showed one or more abnormal findings at physical examination (4 cases), ECG (8 cases), MB-CPK (1 case). At long term follow-up, 5 patients had one or more myocardial functions or conduction abnormalities, with or without symptoms. One patient had compensated heart failure. Nine patients were asymptomatic. Abnormal ECG findings persisted in 3 patients. Three cardiac scans showed evidence of regional myocardial hypoperfusion. Decreases in left ventricular indices measured by echocardiogram were found in 3 patients. We conclude that high-voltage electrocution is associated with a high incidence of cardiac abnormalities, which may persist. Long term evaluation, requiring cardiac T1 201 scintigraphy and echocardiogram, may be justified.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

Motor neuron disease after electric injury.

The occurrence of motor neuron disease after electrical injury in six patients is reported and compared with patients from the literature. The patients were five men with spinal onset and one woman with bulbar motor neuron disease after electric shock. Two patients were struck by lightning and four by industrial electric shock. For all six of them, the disease started at the site of the electrical trauma. The mean delay for onset of motor neuron disease was 44 months. In four of the spinal patients the disease progressed slowly with mild handicap after several years. For the fifth patient, improvement was noted progressively. The patient with bulbar disease died 26 months after onset. A link between electric shock and motor neuron disease is likely, given the homogenous profile of the patients both in the five spinal cases presented here and in the literature. Bulbar onset has not been reported to date. However, in this patient the long delay between the electrical injury and motor neuron disease, together with the rapid evolution may suggest a chance association.

Adult↗
PubMedDate not supplied

[Neurological sequelae following electrocution. A case report and review of the literature].

INTRODUCTION: Electrocution is the cause of a large number of accidents and, of these, a considerable percentage result in death. Several factors affect the severity and distribution of the injuries. It is known that for low voltages the characteristics of alternating current make it three times more dangerous than continuous current. The high percentage of neurological sequelae can be accounted for by the fact that nerves are the tissue with the lowest resistance in the body and electricity tends to follow the path that offers the least resistance. CASE REPORT: A 16-year-old male who was accidentally electrocuted by an electric guitar and later suffered a cardiorespiratory arrest; the patient required intubation. After withdrawing sedation, the patient was found to be blind in both eyes and could not remember what had happened. FLAIR MR imaging revealed oedema in both occipital lobes and, to a lesser extent, in the junction between the parietooccipital and temporooccipital lobes. Treatment with steroids was established for three days. After approximately one month, the patient had recovered his sight and the brain injuries had disappeared. CONCLUSIONS: The neurological manifestations secondary to accidents caused by electricity are usually divided into two types -immediate and delayed. Blindness has rarely been reported as a sequela in those who have survived fulguration due to a lightning strike. The patient's recovery after administering treatment with steroids and the reversibility of the oedema could lead us to think that the mechanism producing this sequela was the damage to the nervous system caused directly by the electricity, which is known as the 'phenomenon of electroporation'.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1994

Epidemiology, morbidity, mortality and treatment of burn injuries--a study in a peripheral industrial hospital.

This is a retrospective study of 348 patients with burn injuries admitted to a peripheral industrial hospital over a period of 10 years. The patients were from all walks of life. The study compared the incidence of burns occurring in various industries and those in other situations, assessed the morbidity and mortality profile of burn injuries treated in a hospital devoid of a modern burn care unit and presents ways of improving the treatment of burn injuries. Out of the 348 patients 42.5 per cent had major burns and 57.5 per cent had minor burns. Children mostly received minor burns, females between the ages of 20 and 40 years commonly received major burns. Flame burns due to kerosene stoves, open flames and fireworks were the commonest causative agent (60.3 per cent). Scalds comprised 28.7 per cent of the injuries, the remainder being due to chemicals, electricity and lighting. Eighty-five per cent of the burns occurred in households; 12 per cent were industrial burns and rest were due to road traffic accidents and lightning. Out of 42 industrial burns, only two cases were of major severity. Most of the industrial burns were scalds. The overall mortality was 18.3 per cent. The average hospital stay was 17.5 days. The treatment given to the patients is briefly discussed and the importance of the introduction of modern methods of burn management in our hospital is also emphasized.

Accidents, Occupational↗
PubMed2006

Accidental deaths caused by electricity in Sweden, 1975-2000.

This study analyzes accidental fatalities caused by electricity--at work and during leisure time--to evaluate risk factors, the role of alcohol, and to identify possible preventive strategies. In Sweden, data on fatalities by electrocution from 1975 through 2000 were collected from the National Cause-of-Death Register. Additional cases were found in the archives of The Swedish National Electrical Safety Board. Suicides and deaths by lightning were excluded. Two hundred and eighty-five deaths were found, including occupational (n=132), leisure time (n=151), and unknown (n=2). Most deaths were caused by aerial power lines, and the most common place for an electrical injury was a railway area or residential property. Postmortem blood from 20% (n=47) of the tested cases was found positive for alcohol, and these persons were killed mainly during leisure time. During the study period, the overall incidence of electricity-related fatalities has decreased, in spite of increased use of electricity. This indicates that safety improvements have been successful.

Accidents↗