Archives of Trauma Research
Year:2012 | Volume:1 | Issue:2|Papers Count:9

Human life is considered of such an extensive value and importance in the human communities that directing all the facilities to fulfill this mission seems quite reasonable.All the health providers pay an immense attention to the holy Quran, as it could be understand from Maedeh surah "If anyone save a life, it would be as if he has saved the whole humanity" the human lives has a high value (1).It has been reported that over 5 million people die annually from injuries worldwide. Injuries as the third most important and frequent cause of overall mortality and the main cause of death among one to forty years old individuals, consist 12 percent of the global diseases (2). A large number of the world’s road fatalities occur in the Asia-Pacific region concerning to the increasing number of motor vehicles, it is predicted that the road trauma incidence is going to overtake stroke, tuberculosis, and prenatal conditions incidence by 2020 (3-5).

Background: Trauma is an inescapable part of sports competitions. It occurs more frequently in contact sports such as wrestling.Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the frequency of injury in Greco-Roman style wrestling competitions at national level.Patients and Methods: This descriptive epidemiological research included 50 Greco-Roman style wrestlers who participated in national level competitions between the years 2003 and 2008. A questionnaire was completed by each participant, itincluded, the number of injuries to skin, muscle tissue, bones and joints. The reliability of the instrument was evaluated by a test – retest method (r=0.83, P=0.0001).Results: The most frequent injuries encountered by the wrestlers were, skin lesions (62%), followed by muscle (22%), bone (9%) and joint (7%) injuries, respectively.Conclusions: Greco-Roman style wrestlers are at high risk of skin injuries. Therefore, they need appropriate instructions on how to avoid injuries and adequate care after their competitions

Background: Chest trauma is responsible for 50% of deaths due to trauma. This kind of death usually occurs immediately after the trauma has occurred.Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the various aspects of chest trauma in patients admitted to two main trauma centers located in the Isfahan Province, Iran.Patients and Methods: During a six month period, a cross-sectional study of 100 patients who had sustained a chest injury was carried out. Data, including, age, sex, time of accident, trauma mechanism, organ injury, hospitalization length, complications, and patient outcomes were recorded and analyzed.Results: The mean ages of the patients were 24.7±3.1 years. Men were injured four times more often than the women. Blunt trauma was the most common type of injury. The incidence of hemothorax was 38% in blunt traumas, and 45% (P=0.01) in penetrating ones.The incidence of pneumothorax was 43% in blunt traumas and 20% in penetrating ones (P=0.03). The length of hospitalization was 7.2±3.2 days for blunt and 10.1±3.1 days for penetrating chest traumas. Five patients (5%) died during hospitalization, three of those deaths were due to arterial injuries and two cases were due to lung contusions.Conclusions: Since hemothorax is the main complication of blunt chest trauma in young men, we recommend that special consideration needs to be made to any case of chest trauma, especially blunt chest injuries.

Background: Trauma, in addition to mortality and disability experienced by an individual, imposes direct and indirect economic and social costs on a community. Traditionally, trauma is a disease of young and middle age adults, an age group which is known to be the most dynamic and economically productive of the community. Increasing our knowledge concerning the etiology and patterns of trauma seems to be the most profitable and accessible way to prevent injuries of this nature.Objectives: This study was designed to evaluate the epidemiology of adult trauma in Kashan, Iran.Patients and Methods: The current study used a retrospective cross-sectional approach, enrolling all trauma adults (20-60 y) admitted to the Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan, between 2007 and 2011. Age, gender, place of residence, work status, educational level, urban/rural location of the accident, method of transportation to hospital, injured body areas of the victims and therapeutic interventions, were extracted from the data registry and analyzed through descriptive statistics using SPSS software.Results: A total of 22 564 patients were included in this study. Mean age of the victims was 33.18±10.90 years and the male/female ratio was 4: 1. Most of the victims were manual workers (61%), and they had completed primary and junior high school level education (49.4%), they were also more likely to be residents of urban areas (88.6%). Regarding the place of injury, most accidents occurred on city streets (43.8%). Approximately 40% of the total victims were transferred to the hospital by emergency medical services (EMS).During the study period, 260 deaths were recorded and among these, 76% were related to traffic accidents.Conclusions: Regarding the high prevalence of trauma found in manual workers with low educational levels and motorbike users, the establishment of an integrated program aimed at improving public knowledge on the use of safety and protective measures in work environments should be implemented. The use of safety protective equipment by cyclists, motorbikers and car passengers should also be enforced.

Background: Snake bites are one of the significant health problems in the tropical and subtropical regions. Snake bite is a common medical emergency in Iran, and the epidemiological features and management of such cases vary from region to region.Objectives: This present research study was conducted to obtain new information about the epidemiology of snake bites in the region of Kashan, located in the central part of Iran.Patients and Methods: This research was a descriptive retrospective study. Data from 2004 to 2011 of snakebite cases were collected from case reports. Information included, age and sex of the victim, district, month of incident, mortality, and time of bite.Results: The results of this study showed that the majority of snake bite patients were male (96%). The age distribution of patients indicated that the greatest rate of snake bites occurred among the 15-24 year old group. Data collected in this study revealed that the highest incidence of snake bite cases took place in summer (60%) and the lowest number occurred in winter, with no snake bite cases being recorded. The peak number of snakebite cases was seen during June-September.Conclusions: It was concluded that snake bite cases in Kashan are similar to other areas in Iran from an epidemiological point of view, including, age distribution rates, gender and site of the bites. The existence of Macrov ipera lebetina, a dangerous venomous snake, can cause a range of clinical effects among residents in central parts of Iran, such as Kashan area.

Dear Editor:We read with interest your article on the use of gabapentin pain control after burn debridement (1). Gabapentin has a well-established role in the management of neuropathic pain, and has been investigated in the past decade regarding its ability to potentiate the effect of morphine on postoperative pain, or decrease the amount of pain experienced by patients after surgery. This study represents one of the only randomized, placebo-controlled, doubleblind studies to look at gabapentin in burn patients. The authors found that 1200mg of gabapentin 2 hours prior to operative debridement of burn wounds led to a significant decrease in pain in the immediate 24-hour postoperative period, as measured by the visual analog score and by patient-requested morphine consumption. While the results are important and consistent with the growing body of literature, there remain methodological questions that are not addressed (2-4).

Dear Editor:I read with interest the study by Rimazet al. (1) which showed a statistically significant reduction in visual analogue pain scores and morphine consumption in a double blind randomised setting with 25 patients in each wing. This is not the first study to suggest that in tackling the complex mechanism of post-burn hypersensitivity, as yet not fully understood but thought to be similar to postoperative pain hypersensitivity, analgesics with different but synergistic effects may prove superior to opioid analgesia alone (2, 3).

Dear Editor: I read with great interest the recent manuscript by Siamak Rimaz on "Effect of Gabapentin on Morphine Consumption and Pain after Surgical Debridement of Burn Wounds: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial Study" published in Archives of Trauma Research (1). In this article they recruited 50 patients and through a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study demonstrated a significant improvement in pain scores and clinical parameters after administration of a single oral dose of 1200mg gabapentin.

Dear Editor:I read with great interest the contribution "Effect of Gabapentin on Morphine Consumption and Pain after Surgical Debridement of Burn Wounds: A Double-Blind Randomized Clinical Trial Study" by Raziet al. (1). Carrying out a Randomized Controlled Trial without funding and especially in our region is an uphill task indeed. I must therefore congratulate the authors on this achievement.The trial has been well-conducted and the manuscript has been likewise prepared impressively. We would however, like to point towards a few observations.