title: Anesthesia for a thoracic BB gun injury.
abstract: Pediatric anesthesiologists care for children with penetrating trauma from nonpowder (BB and pellet) guns. We present the case of a 9-year-old boy who required urgent median sternotomy for cardiac tamponade after sustaining a close-range BB gun injury to the chest. After summarizing the epidemiology of nonpowder gun injuries in children, we clarify the nomenclature, ballistics, and mechanisms of these guns, discuss the tendency to minimize these kinds of injuries, explain bullet embolization, and review (by body area) current clinical management issues.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of California Davis Medical Center, Sacramento, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Shad
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Misseldine
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: August
mesh_terms: D000758:Anesthesia; D002305:Cardiac Tamponade / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D002648:Child; D004617:Embolism / Q000209:etiology; D005389:Firearms / Q000145:classification; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010988:Play and Playthings; D013249:Sternum / Q000601:surgery; D009626:Terminology as Topic; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*