title: Severe electrical injury.
abstract: From January 1979 to January 1987, 125 patients were treated in our Centre for various electrical injuries. Among them, 85 patients were over 15 years of age (89.4 per cent were males and 10.6 per cent females) and 40 patients were below 15 years of age (92.5 per cent were males and 7.5 per cent females). Electricians were the most frequently injured in the over 15-year-old age-group, whereas most patients under 15 years old were students. We focused our study on five patients with multiple and severe electrical injury. Two of these patients were injured while erecting TV aerials, two were injured at work and the other one was working on a house roof. Despite all our efforts extensive limb amputations were required. Following complete healing, we fitted prostheses to the amputation stumps. All the patients have now returned to society as capable individuals, two of them to their previous occupations and the other three with new occupations. Our experience with five patients showed that patients with severe electrical injury and multiple amputations have a reasonable chance of recovery. Rehabilitation therapy must be given as early as possible after the electrical injury so that the patients may return to their normal place in society.
authors.affiliation: Hacettepe University Hospital Burn Center, Ankara, Turkey.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Haberal
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Oner
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Gülay
authors.forename: U
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bayraktar
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Bilgin
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002058:Burns, Electric / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000628:therapy; D014421:Turkey