J Trauma
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Comparative Study
Natural course of the human bite wound: incidence of infection and complications in 434 bites and 803 lacerations in the same group of patients.
Human bites and common lacerations are frequent in certain residential groups in institutions for the care of developmentally disabled individuals. We screened the records of such an institution and studied the course and outcome of 434 human bite wounds and 803 lacerations in the same group of clients. Infection developed in 13.4% of the lacerations, and 17.7% of the bite wounds (chi 2 = 3.474; p greater than 0.06). ⋯ No patient with a bite wound required debridement, initial or subsequent surgical intervention other than wound closure, admission to hospital, or intravenous antibiotics. There is no recorded instance of a bite wound complication other than immediate loss of tissue. These data substantiate a higher incidence of infection in human bite wounds, but they are scant support for admonition that such wounds are indication for routine antimicrobial prophylaxis or aggressive surgical intervention.
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Musculoskeletal complications from seizures produced by epilepsy, eclampsia, hyponatremia, electroconvulsive therapy, and severe tetanus have been described. We present a case of a fracture-dislocation of the manubriosternal joint as a complication of seizures, which to the best of our knowledge has not previously been reported.
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Comparative Study
Effects of resuscitation from hemorrhagic shock on cerebral hemodynamics in the presence of an intracranial mass.
This study compares intracranial pressure, cerebral blood flow, and cerebral oxygen transport during hemorrhagic shock and following fluid resuscitation with crystalloid or colloid solution in a canine model with an epidural mass lesion. After placement of an epidural balloon, intracranial pressure was increased to 30 mm Hg for 5 minutes and then permitted to vary without further manipulation. Hemorrhagic shock was produced by the rapid removal of blood to achieve a mean arterial pressure of 55 mm Hg for 30 minutes. ⋯ Intracranial pressure was significantly lower immediately after resuscitation in the hetastarch group; it then gradually increased so that the difference was much less 1 hour later. Cerebral blood flow decreased during shock and was not restored by either fluid; cerebral oxygen transport fell further with resuscitation in both groups due to hemodilutional reductions in hemoglobin. Although colloid resuscitation improved systemic hemodynamics and maintained lower intracranial pressure, it failed, as did crystalloid resuscitation, to restore cerebral oxygen transport to prehemorrhagic shock levels.
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Exsanguination may be presumed in pale, mottled, unresponsive trauma victims with no palpable pulse nor spontaneous respirations with noncranial penetrating wounds. Under ideal circumstances, those victims initially witnessed to have some signs of life can be successfully revived in 5 to 25% of cases. ⋯ After confirming the witnessed cardiopulmonary arrest from presumed exsanguination, the four phases of resuscitation are restoring central oxygenation, controlling internal hemorrhage, re-establishing spontaneous cardiac function, and definitively repairing the injury. Regardless of the type or location of the noncranial penetrating injury, these phases must be accomplished sequentially to minimize the risks of cerebral and cardiac anoxia.
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The treatment of accidental hypothermia by extracorporeal circulation and internal rewarming can be life saving in patients unconscious from drug overdose or victims of accidental exposure to severe cold. Advantages are the rapidity of treatment, the provision of circulatory support, and a lessened chance of rewarming collapse, since peripheral vasodilation is paralleled by an increase in cardiac output. A premature diagnosis of clinical death was averted in two patients with rectal temperatures of 25 degrees C or below, and their lives were saved by the use of this technique.