A tactics for treating large skin wounds on the head

Abstract

An open wound on the head is an injury (skin tear) of all scalp external layers including dermis, subcutaneous fatty tissue, aponeurosis, muscles, vessels and nerves with intact skull bones and intact neurological reactions [1].Extensive wounds of the external head layers, in addition to a standard threat to the human health, bear an additional risk due to their close localization to the brain. Because of the abundant blood supply to scalp soft tissues, high rate of volumetric blood flow (50–60 milliliters per 100 g of brain tissue), numerous extra-, intracranial arterial and venous anastomoses, there is a real danger of spreading the infection inside the skull and developing meningitis or encephalitis.Problems of care of patients with extensive head wounds, risk of complications that can cause severe consequences determine the relevance of the issue presented in this work.Objective. To analyze treatment results of patients admitted to the emergency department of Mariinskaya State City Hospital in St. Petersburg within three months in 2021 and to develop an optimal tactics for treating patients with extensive wounds of the scalp.Material and research methods. 2245 patients with various types of head injury were admitted to the hospital; 610 (27.2 %) of them had damage of the external scalp layers. Each patient had standard clinical and laboratory examination and multislice computed tomography (MSCT) examination of the head at 64-slice Definition AS (Siemens, Germany) CT scanner. In the emergency department, all patients who were injured by high-energy traumatic objects had the primary surgical debridement; all patients who were injured by low-energy traumatic objects had wound toilet and wound suturing. Three most representative cases with extensive wounds of the external scalp (over 10 cm) with illustrations are presented in the article as clinical examples.Results. All patients had good outcomes. There were no any signs of wound infection either.Conclusion. A thorough primary surgical debridement of scalp wounds with their drainage followed by observation and treatment in the hospital is a necessary condition for successful healing of large scalp wounds.