Gunshot wounds to the spine cause severe neurological and/or internal organs damages. Although most of publications in the literature are realized on military injuries, increased civilian arming which raises civilian gunshot injuries is a new social danger causing serious health problems. In gunshot injuries to the spine; vertebral column, spinal cord and nerve roots are damaged with direct, in...

OBJECTIVE To describe the incidence, injury severity, resource use, mortality, and costs for children with gunshot injuries, compared with other injury mechanisms. METHODS This was a population-based, retrospective cohort study (January 1, 2006-December 31, 2008) including all injured children age ≤ 19 years with a 9-1-1 response from 47 emergency medical services agencies transporting to 93 ...

With the high level of crime in the Western Cape, the state hospitals have witnessed a tremendous increase in the incidence of gunshot injuries. The Groote Schuur Trauma Unit sees between 70 and 120 gunshot injuries a month. Many of these involve the musculoskeletal system, and some the spine. This is in stark contrast to the European experience. Of 34 903 trauma cases seen in Scotland over 28 ...

BACKGROUND Gunshot wounds impose a continuous burden on community and hospital resources. Gunshot injuries to the extremities might involve complex soft tissue, bone, vascular, musculotendinous, and nerve injuries. A precise knowledge of anatomy is needed to evaluate and treat those injuries. OBJECTIVES To review our experience with gunshot wounds to the extremities. METHODS We retrospectiv...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES Gunshot Injuries used to be rare in Nigeria until the civil war of 1967-1970. Unfortunately, it has become very rampant recently. The objective of this paper is to look at the epidemiology of armed robbery-related gunshot injuries as seen in the University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital over a five-year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS Data on patients that presented wi...

BACKGROUND Gunshot injuries are the third leading cause of spinal injuries, after falls from a significant height and traffic accidents. Severity of spinal damage from gunshot injury depends upon certain mechanical and biological factors. The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of biological factors on survival in cases of spinal gunshot injury. METHODS A total of 110 cases...

This retrospective review of 76 patients with gunshot wounds was undertaken to evaluate the pattern and outcome of civilian gunshot injuries in our region. The extremities were the most commonly affected site (51.5% of all gunshot wounds). Gunshot injuries were most common among young males in the third decade of life, and armed robbery was the cause of gunshot trauma in 69.7% of cases. Time fr...

BACKGROUND The low number of firearm assaults and overall assault-related deaths in Statistics South Africa's death notification reports is incongruous with other recently released data, including police crime statistics. METHODS We conducted a review of all gunshot injuries recorded in death notifications from 1997 to 2013, including all cases in which the underlying cause of death was ascri...