Suction Injury Research Articles

Suction injury bleeding. Lingular artery injury due to suction.

Suction injury bleeding. Lingular artery injury due to suction.

Fatal entrapment in a pool drainage system: a case report

Swimming pool suction injuries are rarely encountered in forensic medicine. Infants under 8years of age are most frequently involved in such accidents with high risk of serious injuries and fatal consequences due to drowning. We report, for the first time, a case of a 13-year-old boy trapped at the abdomen by an uncovered suction drainage hole. External examination of the body revealed a round ecchymosis which had the same diameter as the pool drain. Post-mortem examination established that death had occurred due to drowning, possibly in combination with traumatic shock from the suction mechanism involving the intestinal loops. Furthermore, this case may be remarkable as it raises other medico-legal issues regarding the safety standards at swimming pools, including pool management and lifeguard attendance. Preventative measures are needed in order to make sure this sort of injury or death does not occur. Moreover, the awareness of the occurrence of these accidents should be increased.

Blunt abdominal trauma with transanal small bowel evisceration

Small bowel evisceration through the anus can occur spontaneously or post traumatically. Traumatic transanal small bowel evisceration results from iatrogenic injuries, suction injuries, and blunt abdominal trauma (BAT). We report a 48-year-old female who presented with evisceration of small intestinal loops through the anus following BAT and discuss the etiologies and mechanisms of injury of this rare presentation.

An autopsy case of suction injury

The right upper extremity of a 38-year-old man was entrapped in an underwater intake of a water duct of a dam reservoir, and he died despite being promptly rescued. His right upper extremity was swollen and exhibited purplish-red discolourations. The skin had numerous blisters and increased tension. Severe subcutaneous and muscle bleeding were observed in the right upper extremity. The circumference and volume of the right upper extremity were approximately 1.2 and 1.4 times, respectively, that the circumference and volume of the left upper extremity. The increase in weight of the right extremity was calculated to be approximately 2.1 kg; this finding indicates a severe decrease in the victim’s central blood volume. Furthermore, it is possible that much more than 2.1 kg of blood accumulated in the upper extremity upon exposure to vacuum pressure. We conclude that the victim died of circulatory collapse that was attributable to haemorrhage and re-distribution of blood as a result of vacuum pressure on the right upper extremity. Thus, we have examined the cause of death and the effects of vacuum pressure on the human body.

Transanal Small Bowel Evisceration: An Unusual Presentation of Rectal Impalement

Traumatic transanal small bowel evisceration is a rare condition usually associated with suction injuries or blunt abdominal trauma. We report the first case of intestinal evisceration through the anus caused by penetrating trauma (rectal impalement). Additionally, we performed a literature review of all English language articles since 1970 concerned with traumatic transanal small bowel evisceration. Mechanisms of injury and the surgical management are discussed.

Small bowel evisceration through the rectum in childhood

Small bowel evisceration through the rectum is extremely rare in childhood and has previously been reported in association with swimming pool suction injuries. We report a case of ileal evisceration resulting from a self-inflicted injury in a teenaged boy. Such a mechanism of injury leading to evisceration of the small bowel is previously unreported in children or adults.

Compartment syndrome caused by suction

Compartment syndrome is probably underdiagnosed particularly when the mechanism of injury is indirect. This case is unusual in that the syndrome occurred as a consequence of suction injury and illustrates the benefits of early tissue pressure measurement and surgical decompression.

Suction injuries: Education is the key to prevention

Editor's note: Occasionally, editorials are written by colleagues who have important timely issues to share with the readership. I recently received this letter from a graduate student whose assignment was to write a letter to an editor. I chose to publish it as this issue's editorial as it addressed a very important summer safety issue that is largely overlooked in the pediatric nursing literature. Additionally, I am pleased to have the opportunity to publish this well-written piece by a nursing student.

Integration of a variable action suction adapter into ultrasonic aspirators.

Use of ultrasonic aspirators has become a mainstay in the neurosurgical armamentarium. The handpiece design and ultrasonic parameters have evolved to maximize its safe and efficacious use. Despite these modifications, continuous suction through the tip of the aspirator can result in neurovascular damage, especially when the aspirator is working in the cavernous sinus region or cerebellopontine angle. We describe the integration of a variable suction adapter into the existing handpiece of an ultrasonic aspirator to minimize potential injury from the continuous forceful suction normally associated with the use of these devices. The integration of such an adapter can reduce the potential for suction injury to cranial nerves or microvascular structures or smaller-caliber arteries and veins. This variable action suction adapter can decrease suction injuries to cranial nerves or the microvasculature.

Suction injuries in children leading to acute compartment syndrome of the interosseous muscle of the hand: case reports

Compartment syndromes of the interosseous musculature in the hands of children is a relatively rare phenomenon and is usually associated with crush injury, severe burn, or ischemic events. Two cases of intrinsic compartment syndrome in children, secondary to suction injuries of the hand, are presented. Two children experienced suction injuries to the upper extremity when their hands were caught in a swimming-pool intake pipe filtration system. The filtration system intake suction developed enough negative pressure to induce an acute compartment syndrome of the interosseous muscles, requiring acute surgical decompression. Early diagnosis, prompt surgical decompression, and early postoperative rehabilitation of this unusual etiology of compartment syndrome of the hand provided a favorable and functional outcome.

Skin suction blister wound exposed to u.v. irradiation: a burn wound model for use in humans

The effects of exposing blister wounds to u.v. irradiation were assessed in 14 male volunteers, on whose forearms blister wounds (diameter 5 mm, suction set at 200 mmHg below atmospheric for 2 h 15 min, blister roof cut at base), and irradiated blister wounds (as above, in addition u.v. irradiation given selectively for 30 min from a distance of 10 cm), were produced. In non-u.v.-irradiated wounds, flow cessation, assessed by video microscopy (n = 6), was observed in a small proportion of the papillary loop vessels. The oedema adjacent to the wound was poorly developed. Laser Doppler linear scans (n = 8) demonstrated a pronounced hyperaemia in the wound bed and also in the adjacent skin, the reaction subsiding over a few days. The exudation rate, determined by weighing the hydrocolloid dressings applied to the wound, was maximal on day 1 and then rapidly decreased. Epithelialization, assessed evaporimetrically as the time taken for reinstatement of the epidermal water barrier, was complete in 5.1 days. In the u.v.-irradiated wounds the blood flow had ceased in all the papillary loop vessels by day 1, and increased oedema, exudation and hyperaemia at the wound edges were observed. Epithelialization was not significantly retarded by the irradiation injury. After 6 months, slight discolouration of the skin was occasionally observed, but no cosmetically disturbing scars. This benign and standardized wound model in humans — based on a combination of a mechanical suction injury and a superficial radiation burn - may prove to be useful, for instance when studying the effects of burns treatment.

Rectosigmoid perforation and intestinal evisceration from transanal suction

Transanal suction injuries were sustained in 1981 by five children when they sat upon uncovered swimming area drain sites. Tears of the rectosigmoid areas occurred in each with associated evisceration and loss of substantial amounts of small intestine because of mesenteric separation. These cases are reviewed.