He was transported to the hospital where surgeons carefully removed the log from the patient’s leg. It was said that the log was just millimetres away from his femoral artery which could have had fatal consequences.
Impalement injuries are one of the severe types of injuries combining effects of both penetrating and blunt trauma leading to crush injury, wound contamination, and multiorgan damage.These types of injuries are usually a result of fall from height, vehicular accidents, and slip with strong external force. Prompt transfer to tertiary centre, pre-operative planning, and multi specialty involvement is crucial in the management of such cases. After initial resuscitation, full trauma evaluation should be carried out before attending to local injury. Minimal manipulation, extraction of impaled object in operation theater under direct vision, wound debridement, and administration of antibiotics to prevent wound infection are pearls of the management of impalement injury.
Source: IG@Medicalpedia
