Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Trauma on the high seas: an overview of recreational water use injuries

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Emergency Radiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Recreational water use (RWU) injuries span from superficial lacerations to even death. Given the global popularity of RWU, radiologists should be aware of the common mechanisms and key imaging findings related to injuries in this setting. The goal of this article is to depict common RWU injuries and their emergent radiographic findings, which may have both important surgical and management implications. We present a broad review with case illustrations of these injuries seen at our level 1 trauma center showing the breadth of injury that can occur, general mechanisms and sample imaging findings.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7
Fig. 8
Fig. 9

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Recreational Boating Statistics (2017) Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety, U.S. Department of Homeland Security and United States Coast Guard. Washington, DC, 2017

  2. Chalmers DJ, Morrison L (2003) Epidemiology of non-submersion injuries in aquatic sporting and recreational activities. Sports Med 3(10):745–770

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Steinbruck K, Paeslack V (1980) Analysis of 139 spinal cord injuries due to accidents in water sports. Paraplegia 18(2):86–93

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Good RP, Nickel VL (1980) Cervical spine injuries resulting from water sports. Spine 5(6):502–506

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Al-Thanni H, El-Menyar A, Mekkodathil A, Abdelrahman H (2017) Types, patterns and outcomes of personal watercraft-related trauma. Ann Med Health Sci Res 7:37–41

    Google Scholar 

  6. Rubin LE, Stein PB, DiScala C, Grottkau BE (2003) Pediatric trauma caused by personal watercraft: a ten-year retrospective. J Pediatr Surg 38:1525–1529

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Shin SH, Johnson BP, Mentzer CJ (2017) Personal watercraft related injuries 16- year experience from a level I trauma center. Ther American Surgeon 83(12):E485–E487

    Google Scholar 

  8. Haan JM, Kramer ME, Scalea TM (2002) Pattern of injury from personal watercraft. Am Surg 68:624–627

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  9. Phillips BJ, Turco LM (2017) Le fort fractures: a collective review. Bull Emerg Trauma 5(4):221–230

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Yoon W, Jeong YY, Kim JK, Seo JJ, Lim HS, Shin SS, Kim JC, Jeong SW, Park JG, Kang HK (2005) CT in blunt liver trauma. Radiographics 25(1):87–104

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Price C, Muszynski MJ, Zielinski JA, Steward C (2015) Motorboat propeller injuries: report of thirteen cases with review of mechanism of injury and bacterial considerations. J Trauma Treat 4:267

    Google Scholar 

  12. Pakasi LS (2018) Health risks associated with recreational water activities. IOP Conf Ser: Mater Sci Eng 434:012329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Voss LM, Rhodes KH, Johnson KA (1992) Musculoskeletal and soft tissue Aeromonas infection: an environmental disease. Mayo Clin Proc 67(5):422–427

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Czachor JS (1992) Unusual aspects of bacterial water-borne illnesses. Am Fam Physician 46(3):797–804

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Janda JM, Abbott SL (1993) Infections associated with the genus Edwardsiella: the role of Edwardsiella tarda in human disease. Clin Infect Dis 17(4):742–748

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Yin Q, Wang J (2015) Current trends in management of atlantoaxial dislocation. Orthop Surg 7:189–199

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Ishii K, Toyama Y, Nakamura M, Chiba K, Matsumoto M (2012) Management of chronic atlantoaxial rotatory fixation. Spine 37:E278–E285

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Nagpal P, Policeni BA, Bathla G, Khandelwal A, Derdeyn C, Skeete D (2017) Blunt cerebrovascular injuries: advances in screening, imaging and management trends. Am J Neuroradiol 39(3):406–414

    Article  Google Scholar 

  19. Papa L, Hoelle R, Idris A (2005) Systematic review of definitions for drowning incidents. Resuscitation 65(3):255–264

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Salomez F, Vincent JL (2004) Drowning: a review of epidemiology, pathophysiology, treatment and prevention. Resuscitation 63(3):261–268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Idris AH, Bierens JJ, Perkins GD et al (2017) 2015 revised Ustein-style recommended guidelines for uniform reporting of data from drowning-related resuscitation: an ILCOR advisory statement. Resuscitation 118:147

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Battaglia JD, Lockhart CH (1977) Drowning and near-drowning. Pediatr Ann 6(4):270

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. Bierens JJ, Knape JT, Gelissen HP (2002) Drowning. Curr Opin Crit Care 8(6):578–586

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Olshakre JS (1992) Near drowning. Emerg Med Clin North Am 10(2):339

    Google Scholar 

  25. Wijman CA, Mlynash M, Caulfield AF, Hsia AW, Eyngorn I, Bammer R, Fischbein N, Albers GW, Moseley M (2009) Prognostic value of brain diffusion-weighted imaging after cardiac arrest. Ann Neurol 65(4):394–402

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Zingler VC, Krumm B, Bertsch T, Fassbender K, Pohlmann-Eden B (2003) Early prediction of neurological outcome after cardiopulmonary resuscitation: a multimodal approach combing neurobiochemical and electrophysiological investigations may provide high prognostic certainty in patients after cardiac arrest. Eur Neurol 49(2):79–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. DeNicola LK, Falk JL, Swanson ME, Gayle MO, Kissoon N (1997) Submersion injuries in children and adults. Crit Care Clin 13(3):477–502

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Handley AJ (2014) Drowning. Brit Med J 348:1734

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jennifer Wu.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher’s note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Wu, J., Shamah, S., Tsui, E. et al. Trauma on the high seas: an overview of recreational water use injuries. Emerg Radiol 27, 423–431 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-020-01760-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10140-020-01760-x

Keywords

Navigation