title: Local and distant trauma after hypervelocity ballistic impact to the pig hind limb.
abstract: The development of high-energy weapons could increase the velocity of projectiles to well over 1000 m/s. The nature of the injuries caused by the ballistic impact of projectiles at velocities much faster than 1000 m/s is unclear. This study characterizes the mechanical and biochemical alterations caused by high-speed ballistic impact generated by spherical steel ball to the hind limbs of the pig. That the local and distal injuries caused by hypervelocity ballistic impact to the living body are also identified. It is showed that the severity of the injury was positively correlated with the velocity of the projectile. And 4000 m/s seems to be the critical velocity for the 5.6 mm spherical steel ball, which would cause severe damage to either local or distal organs, as below that speed the projectile penetrated the body while above that speed it caused severe damage to the body. In addition, vaporization prevented the projectile from penetrating the body and the consequent pressure wave seems to be the causal factor for the distant damage.
authors.affiliation: 6th Department of Research Institute of Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400042 China ; State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Jin
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: 6th Department of Research Institute of Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400042 China ; Department of Orthopedics, Nanchong Central Hospital, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, China.
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: 6th Department of Research Institute of Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400042 China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: 6th Department of Research Institute of Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400042 China.
authors.forename: Jian-Yi
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kang
authors.affiliation: 6th Department of Research Institute of Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400042 China ; State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Kui-Jun
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopedics, Daping Hospital, The Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Ai-Min
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: 6th Department of Research Institute of Surgery, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, 400042 China ; State Key Laboratory of Trauma, Burns and Combined Injury, Daping Hospital, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Jian-Min
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: Ballistic impact; Distant injury; Hypervelocity; Projectile; Transient cavity