The Evaluation, Management and Outcome about an Experience with Sharp Force Abdominal Injury

<p><strong>Background and Objective:</strong> Sharp force injuries (SFI), inflicted by cutting or stabbing, result in variable outcome depending upon the nature and site of the injury. This study evaluated the cases of SFIs and their outcome with reference to the time of presentation, demographic data, wounded organs, and surgical procedure performed.<br /><strong>Methods:</strong> This retrospective study analyzed the clinical data of 20 patients who presented with sharp force injury (knife stabbing and penetrating abdominal trauma) and were admitted between April 2015 and November 2016. The management and outcome of patients were recorded.<br /><strong>Results:</strong> All patients in this study were male and aged between 21 and 30 years. Knife stabbing was the only mechanism of injury in all cases. Colon (50%) was the commonest organ injured followed by intestine (40%) and liver (30%). Mortality rate was 10%. There were two cases with negative laparotomy (10%). Wound sepsis (10%) was the commonest complication.<br /><strong>Conclusions: </strong>SFI involving abdominal area are managed either conservatively or with primary repair and laparotomy to save internal organs. Early presentation and prompt management leads to reduced chances of complications and mortality.</p>

Characteristics of unnatural deaths in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina: A 10-year study (2008–2017)

A retrospective review was undertaken of 287 unnatural deaths undergoing medicolegal investigation over a 10-year period from January 2008 to December 2017 in Rio Grande, Tierra del Fuego, Argentina. There were 219 males and 68 females, age range 7 months to 88 years (average 38.4 years). The 135 accidental deaths (47%) were due mainly to vehicle crashes ( N = 62) and carbon monoxide toxicity from fires ( N = 31). The 115 cases of suicides (40.1%) were predominantly due to hanging ( N = 75) and gunshot wounds ( N = 20). The 37 cases of homicide (12.9%) were mainly due to stabbing/sharp force injury ( N = 20) and blunt force trauma ( N = 9). Carbon monoxide toxicity from faulty heating accounted for a substantial percentage (8.1%) of the accidental deaths. Firearm homicides and suicides related to drug toxicity and carbon monoxide inhalation were relatively uncommon medicolegal cases in this centre.

The sword and the knife: a comparison of ancient Egyptian treatment of sword injuries and present day knife trauma.

The Edwin Smith papyrus is the oldest known surgical treatise, thought to have been written in 1700 B.C. It was first discovered in Luxor in 1862 and was first translated from hieroglyph script by Egyptologist, James Henry Breasted in 1930. The papyrus details forty eight traumatic injuries which are topographically organised and considered formulaically through examination, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment.The Khopesh was an ancient Egyptian sickle shaped sword which was thought to have been used to inflict a slash-type sharp force injury during battle. Treatment of these slash-type wounds as described in the Edwin Smith papyrus are compared with the current treatment of equivalent slash-type injuries, commonly knife wounds in the twenty first century.Comparison of a variety of components involved in the treatment of historical and modern slash-type sharp force wounds has illustrated that despite advances in medical practice, some of the basic principles of our current treatment regimes are derived from practices established thousands of years ago by the ancient Egyptians.