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Secondary blast injury: radiological characteristics of shrapnel injuries in children

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this study is to examine the radiological images of child victims suffering from secondary blast injuries, to reveal organ-based injury patterns and their interrelationships, and to record mortality rates that may develop due to injured systems.

Methods

A total of 65 patients with secondary blast injury due to bomb explosion were included in the study. Injury findings due to shrapnel in radiologic images of the patients were examined. Injured systems and types of injuries were recorded.

Results

The most common injuries were intra-abdominal injuries (63%) and fractures (58.5%). Lung injury was observed in 4 (9.8%) of 41 patients with intra-abdominal injury, while 37 (90.2%) did not, and this was statistically significant (p = 0.003). The most common intra-abdominal organ injury was a small bowel injury in 23 (35.4%) patients. The coexistence of small bowel injury and large bowel injury was present in 8 patients (34.8%), and it was statistically significant (p = 0.019). A total of 14 (21.5%) of the patients died. There was no significant relationship between mortality and gender (p = 319). Brain damage was present in 10 (71.4%) of the 14 (21.5%) patients who died, which was statistically significant (p < 0.001).

Conclusion

Our results showed that the most common injuries were intra-abdominal injuries, damage to different organs could occur at the same time, and deaths were especially associated with brain injuries. For this reason, it should not be forgotten that CT scans will have an important place in the triage of the patient, especially in victims with shrapnel at the abdominal and cranial levels in radiography examinations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Radiology, Faculty of Medicine, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Alahan Kampüsü, Antakya, Hatay, Turkey

    İnan Korkmaz

  2. Department of Pediatric Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Hatay Mustafa Kemal University, Alahan Kampüsü, Antakya, Hatay, Turkey

    Mehmet Emin Çelikkaya & Ahmet Atıcı

Authors
  1. İnan Korkmaz
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  2. Mehmet Emin Çelikkaya
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  3. Ahmet Atıcı
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by İnan Korkmaz, Mehmet Emin Çelikkaya, and Ahmet Atıcı. The first draft of the manuscript was written by İnan Korkmaz, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to İnan Korkmaz.

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Korkmaz, İ., Çelikkaya, M.E. & Atıcı, A. Secondary blast injury: radiological characteristics of shrapnel injuries in children. Emerg Radiol 30, 307–313 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-023-02132-x

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