Motorcycle related cranio-maxillofacial injuries at a tertiary hospital in the Philippines

OBJECTIVE: To describe the type and determine the number of motorcycle related cranio-maxillofacial injuries that were seen by the ORL service in the emergency room of a tertiary hospital from January 2013 to December 2013   METHODS Study Design: Cross sectional retrospective chart review Setting: Tertiary National University Hospital  Subjects: One hundred nine charts of patients seen at the emergency room from January 2013 to December 2013 were reviewed   RESULTS:  Of the 109 charts of patients involved in vehicular accidents, there were 76 documented cases of motorcycle related accidents. Of these, 91% involved males and 9% involved females. Seventy one percent did not wear helmets, of whom 36% were young adult males between the ages of 18-30 years. Those that wore helmets had a total of 27 different facial fracture sites: 19% zygomatic tripod fractures, 15% temporal bone fractures and 11% with no fractures noted. Among those who did not wear helmets 75 fractures were noted. Twenty four percent were tripod fractures, 15% temporal bone fractures and 12% maxillary fractures. Only one did not incur any fractures.   CONCLUSION: Most cranio-maxillofacial fractures seen at the emergency room were from motorcycle related injuries (70%).  Despite implementation of Republic Act 10054 (The Motorcycle Helmet Act of 2009) majority of motorcycle-related accidents are still incurred by riders without helmets.   Keywords: cranio-maxillofacial fractures, motorcycle accidents, helmet, tripod fracture, temporal bone fracture