1/16. Pathogenesis and recovery of tetraplegia after electrical injury.The site of neurological damage causing paralysis after electrical trauma remains to be clarified. A patient is described who developed a flaccid tetraplegia after a high voltage electrical injury. The findings on initial examination and neurophysiological investigation showed a very severe generalised sensory-motor polyneuropathy. His subsequent follow up over 60 months showed a remarkable degree of reinnervation and the unmasking of a myelopathy. The degree of reinnervation noted suggests an axonopathy that left the other elements of the peripheral nerves relatively spared. These findings provide the most convincing evidence to date that a generalised polyneuropathy can follow electrical injury and that it results from non-thermal mechanisms such as electroporation.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/16. Internal current mark in a case of suicide by electrocution.Fatalities caused by electrocution often lack specific morphologic evidence. Investigation of the death scene along with technical inspection of the electrical apparatus may help in clarifying the cause and manner of death. Cutaneous current marks may be the only sign of low voltage associated fatalities. The authors report a case of an electrician who committed suicide by electrocution using a time switch after oral ingestion of diazepam. electrodes (coins) were fixed with adhesive tape at the height of the heart to the front and back of the left side of the chest. autopsy revealed a blackish linear mark on the pleura parietalis of the inner side of the thoracic cavity, connecting the cutaneous current marks. Current-related and heat-related changes, such as hypercontraction bands of the intercostal muscles and coagulative changes of the perineurium of peripheral nerves, were found at histologic examination. Taking into consideration that the body had been under the influence of low-voltage current for 7 days, the morphologic alteration on the pleura parietalis was in accordance with an internal current mark, indicating the main route of current flow through the body. To the authors' knowledge, such a current-related phenomenon has not been reported to occur on an inner body surface before.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/16. Peripheral nerve compression associated with low-voltage electrical injury without associated significant cutaneous burn.Although peripheral-nerve injury has been described as clearly related to electrical injury, that electrical injury is usually associated with third- and often fourth-degree burns. The report presented here describes three cases of low-voltage electrical injury with associated peripheral-nerve symptoms but without clinically significant cutaneous burns. The symptoms and clinical findings resembled peripheral-nerve compression. The presence of these symptoms and findings in the upper- and lower-extremities and the presence of bilateral involvement suggest a systemic electrical injury that resembles a peripheral neuropathy. Symptoms were relieved by the decompression of nerves at multiple sites in each extremity. Perineurial fibrosis was identified at the time of nerve decompression. It is proposed that the electrical injury causes maximal heat production at areas of minimal limb cross-sectional area. In these areas, the peripheral nerve is in close proximity to bone and fibrous tissue. This results in perineurial fibrosis and symptoms of a compressive peripheral neuropathy.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 10keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/16. Focal lingual dystonia, urinary incontinence, and sensory deficits secondary to low voltage electrocution: case report and literature review.Electrocution injuries are well reported in review articles and cases of high voltage electrocution injury are abundant. However, reports of low voltage electrocution injury are few. A case is presented of low voltage shock from a 120 volt AC source with presentation, acute and chronic course, and a five year follow up. The patient experienced several unusual complications of low voltage electrocution: a persistent right tongue deviation, which initially presents as an isolated hypoglossal nerve palsy, but subsequently manifests as a focal lingual dystonia; total body paresthesia with urinary incontinence; and persistent sensory deficits to the face and tongue.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/16. A case of electrocution during illegal fishing activities.The passage of electric current through the human body causes variable harm, ranging from loss of consciousness to death caused by paralysis of the bulbar nerve centers. This report describes a fatal case caused by an illegal fishing practice involving stunning fish with electric shocks produced by an electric generator carried through the water inside the carcass of an old refrigerator to keep it afloat. This occurrence is unusual because of the circumstances giving rise to the use of electric current and the cause of death, which resulted from the combination of the electric current produced by the generator and the saltwater, bringing about death by drowning.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/16. Opposite-direction bilateral fracture dislocation of the shoulders after an electric shock.Injuries after an electric shock, such as dermal burns, motor and sensory nerve deficits, fractures and dislocations, are reported in the literature. Posterior dislocation of the shoulder after electric-shock is the common musculoskeletal injury. Bilateral dislocation, either anterior or posterior, is rarely seen and reported. We report a case of bilateral shoulder fracture dislocation in opposite directions following an electric-shock and discuss the mechanism, the diagnosis and the treatment.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/16. diagnosis of electrical skin injuries. A review and a description of a case.This paper presents a brief review of the results of research in the area of electrical skin injuries. It also includes a case report of a 5-year-old girl noted on her admission to the hospital to have injuries to the skin of her chest and left arm. Histological examinations demonstrated that the skin lesions were segmental and showed necrosis and inflammation. Deposits of calcium salts distinctly located to collagen fibers were observed below the regenerated epidermis at the periphery of two skin lesions of the chest wall, in the lower part of dermis at the periphery of a skin lesion of the left arm, and within connective tissue adjacent to elastic arteries and peripheral nerves from the thoracic cavity. The pattern of calcification localized to collagen fibers and situated both superficially and deeply in the skin in a zone of viable tissue close to necrotic tissue is characteristic of electrically induced lesions. Although there have been reports of deposition of calcium salts on collagen fibers after application of calcium salts in high concentration at the skin surface, the collagen calcification in the pattern observed in this patient is probably diagnostic of electrical injury.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/16. High-voltage electrical injury: electron microscopic findings of injured vessel, nerve, and muscle.Bilateral legs damaged by high-voltage electrical injury were treated by amputation and a free thin rectus abdominis myocutaneous flap with reduced muscle. Damaged arteries at 2 months after injury showed disappearance of endothelium, and a decreased number and morphological changes in smooth-muscle cells. Injured nerves and muscles showed early regenerating processes after total degeneration, and no progressive muscular necrosis. These results suggest that severe degeneration of the neurovascular bundle and muscle is unavoidable in high-voltage electrical injuries of the extremities. Therefore, early amputation, sequential debridement, late coverage by a flap, and prolonged rehabilitation are required in this injury.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/16. brachial plexus injury caused by electric current through the ulnar nerve. Case report and review of the literature.A case of brachial plexus injury caused by electric current is reported. A 14-year-old boy touched a bare electric cord with his right fifth finger. The electric current ran from the finger through the extremity to the neck. Then it caused brachial plexus palsy gradually. The clinical course and the electrophysiological examination revealed that the affected nerve fibers were in a state of neurapraxia.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5keywords = nerve (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/16. Peripheral nerve injury and Raynaud's syndrome following electric shock.A truck driver was injured by a high-voltage line of 10,000 volts when holding a metallic bar in both hands. Initially no neurological abnormalities were found, but during the following few weeks increasing sensory and minor motor symptoms developed in the right upper extremity. After one year numbness of the right thigh and leg appeared, as well as attacks of white finger in both hands. Repeated examinations showed progressive abnormalities of the median and ulnar nerves in both hands. No other cause for Raynaud's syndrome was discovered. The late high-voltage effects, presumably indirect, are suggested to be of multifactorial etiology.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 5.261372677636keywords = nerve, median (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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