261 Correspondence (‹letiflim): Elias Degiannis, M.D. Department of Surgery, University of the Witswatersrand Medical School, 7 York Road, Parktown 2193 Johannesburg, South Africa. Tel: +27 (11) 933-8804 e-mail ( e p o s t a ) : d e g i a n n i s @ y e b o . c o . z a Department of Surgery, University of The Witswatersrand Medical School, Johannesburg, South Africa. Witswatersrand T›p Fakültesi...

A 46-year-old man stabbed himself with a knife. While he was stable, frontal and lateral chest radiographs were obtained (Fig. 1). Following a cardiac arrest, emergency sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass were performed. The acute margins of the heart and diaphragm were lacerated. The knife passed 5 mm posteromedial to the inferior vena cava (Fig. 2). Recovery was uneventful. Figure 1: Fronta...

Introduction: Diagnosis of orbital foreign body (FB) penetration is usually obvious when part of the FB is still attached at the entry wound (1). However, the depth and course of the FB in this case was not visible.   Case Report: A 5-year old female presented with a pencil penetrating the left orbit. A computed tomography (CT) scan showed that the pencil penetrated the left orbit (extraseptal)...

Penetrating neck injuries are uncommon in children and a post traumatic common carotid artery to internal jugular vein fistula rarely occurs. We present one case of a 4-year-old girl with a penetrating injury from flying glass fragments in the midportion of the neck, caused by an explosion in a military warehouse. She was referred to our facility upon a request of a hospital of a neighbour coun...

OBJECTIVES In the United Kingdom, the epidemiology, management strategies and outcomes from vascular trauma are unknown. The aim of this study was to describe the vascular trauma experience of a British Trauma Centre. METHODS A retrospective observational study of all patients admitted to hospital with traumatic vascular injury between 2005 and 2010. RESULTS Vascular injuries were present i...

BACKGROUND How should the stable patient with penetrating abdominal or lower chest trauma be evaluated? Evolving trends have recently included the use of diagnostic laparoscopy. In September 1995 we instituted a protocol of diagnostic laparoscopy to identify those patients who could safely avoid surgical intervention. DESIGN Prospective case series. MATERIALS AND METHODS Hemodynamically sta...

Foreign body ingestion is a common presentation in the emergency room. However, the complication such as penetrating renal trauma due to sharp objects ingestion is relatively rare. We herein describe an unusual case of penetrating renal trauma in the absence of any other urinary symptoms. A 53-year-old man who had a history of iron wire ingestion went to our hospital, on examination, he only ha...

Similar to penetrating torso trauma, nontorso injuries have undergone a fascinating oscillation between invasive and noninvasive approaches. This article discusses an organized approach to the evaluation and initial treatment of penetrating extremity injuries based on regional anatomy and clinical examination. The approach is reliable, efficient and minimizes both delays in diagnosis and missed...

BACKGROUND The neck region contains a high density of vital organ structures within a relatively small and unprotected anatomic region, making it one of the most vulnerable areas of the body for all types of injuries. OBJECTIVES In this article, we studied penetrating neck trauma cases in Alzahra Hospital over a 10-year period. PATIENTS AND METHODS In this retrospective, descriptive, analyt...