BACKGROUND Penetrating arterial injuries to the limbs are common injuries in high volume trauma centers. Their overall surgical results reported in the literature are satisfactory - apart of those of the popliteal artery that still may lead to a significant incidence in amputations. With the present study we assessed our outcome with penetrating arterial injuries to the limb as to see if the di...

Pharyngeal foreign bodies are commonly encountered in otolaryngological practice. However, in certain instances, particularly in cases of penetrating injuries, major vascular damage leads to severe morbidity and mortality. Management of these cases includes airway protection, bleeding control, imaging of major vascular injury, and prophylactic antibiotics. The case of a 2-year-old patient with ...

BACKGROUND Canadian trauma units have relatively little experience with major cardiac trauma (disruption of a cardiac chamber) so injury outcome may not be comparable to that reported from other countries. We compared our outcomes to those of other centers. METHODS Records of patients suffering major cardiac trauma over a nine-year period were reviewed. Factors predictive of outcome were anal...

BACKGROUND Penetrating nail-gun injuries to the head are rare, however, the incidence has been gradually rising over the last decade. While there is a large volume of case reports in the literature, there are only a few incidences of cerebrovascular injury. We present a case of a patient with a nail-gun injury to the brain, which compromised the cerebral vasculature. In this article, we present...

Traumatic coronary artery-cameral fistulas (TCAF) are rare and may present secondary to penetrating injuries (80%) or iatrogenic traumas. Early operative intervention remains the recommended treatment modality for accidental traumatic coronary artery fistulas. We report the case of a 17-year-old man who presented with left anterior descending coronary artery-right ventricle fistula following pe...

Nonmissile low-velocity penetrating brain injuries are unusual among civilian population. Work-related penetrating head wounds are rarer among this group. Here, we report two rare cases of penetrating head wounds caused by industrial grinder tool. The patients (both men) were struck to the head by detached blades of the grinder tool. Depressed fractures, penetrated bone fragments, and dural lac...

Trans-orbital penetrating injuries are not common. If not promptly treated, these injuries can lead to serious disabilities and even death. A 60-year-old man, who had multiple underlying diseases, was admitted to our medical ward for the treatment of aspiration pneumonia; he attempted suicide by inserting a ballpoint pen into his left eye. CT of the brain showed a foreign body penetrating throu...