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Survey of Electrical Burns in Philippine General Hospital
Author(s) -
ACOSTA ASER S.,
AZARCONLIM JEANE,
RAMIREZ ALFREDO T.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
annals of the new york academy of sciences
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.712
H-Index - 248
eISSN - 1749-6632
pISSN - 0077-8923
DOI - 10.1111/j.1749-6632.1999.tb07938.x
Subject(s) - medicine , amputation , electrical burn , electrical injuries , mortality rate , sepsis , surgery , poison control , injury prevention , electrical current , burn injury , emergency medicine , electrical engineering , engineering
A total of 211 patients were admitted at the UP‐PGH Burn Unit in 1995. Sixty‐eight (32.2%) patients suffered burn injuries secondary to electrical injury. In the period from July to December 1995, a total of 28 patients were admitted because of burns caused by electricity. Twenty‐six (92%) patients sustained injury secondary to high tension (>1000 V) electrical current and 2 (7.1%) secondary to low tension (<1000 V) electrical current, specifically 220 V, which were both self‐inflicted. Twenty‐seven (96%) patients were males. Injury was work‐related in 18 patients, nonwork‐related in 8, and self‐inflicted in 2. Sixteen (57%) patients suffered injuries on a rooftop, 11 (39%) patients on the ground, and 1 (3.5%) patient on top of an electric post. A total of 22 operations were performed on 28 patients, including 7 extremity amputations, which makes an amputation rate of 25%. There were 5 deaths secondary to overwhelming wound sepsis, making an overall mortality rate of 21.7% and an operative mortality rate of 22.7%. The average length of hospital stay was 17.2 days.