Missile Injury of the Sciatic Nerve: Observational Study Supporting Early Exploration and Direct Suture With Flexed Knee

Missile injuries of the sciatic nerve are frequently encountered in modern violent conflicts. Gunshot and fragment wounds may cause large nerve defects, for which management is challenging. The great size of the sciatic nerve, in both diameter and length, explains the poor results of nerve repair using autografts or allografts. To address this issue, we used a simple technique consisting of a direct suture of the sciatic nerve combined with knee flexion for 6 weeks. Despite a published series showing that this procedure gives better results than sciatic nerve grafting, it remains unknown or underutilized. The purpose of this cases study is to highlight the efficiency of direct sciatic nerve coaptation with knee flexed through three cases with missile injuries at various levels. At the follow-up of two years, all patients were pain free with a protective sensory in the sole and M3+ or M4 gastrocnemius muscles, regardless of the injury level. Recovery was also satisfying in the fibular portion, except for the very proximal lesion. No significant knee stiffness was noticed, including in a case suffering from an associated distal femur fracture. Key points to enhance functional recovery are early nerve repair (as soon as definitive bone fixation and stable soft-tissue coverage are achieved) and careful patient selection.

Management of Venous Bullet Embolus in a Child

Bullet embolus is a rare complication of penetrating missile injury in children with only a handful of case reports. We describe a seven year old with a venous bullet embolus to the right ventricle.

Missile Injury by A Weed Wacker Resulting in a False Aneurysm of the Brachial Artery

A novel now commonly used device in many countries called a “weed-wacker” is a mechanical rotating device with a cord used to trim lawns and grass. A case of a 14-year old boy with a false aneurysm of the brachial artery is presented; he sustained a missile injury by a piece of rusty steel projected by use of a weed wacker. Missile injuries by nail guns and bullets have been documented in the literature; however, this mechanism of injury by a weed-wacker has never been previously described and is presented as a unique mechanism of injury and brings attention the issue of safety with the use of the weed-wacker.

Missile injury to the pediatric brain in conflict zones

Object This study was conducted both prospectively and retrospectively at one center over a period of 8 years. The population consisted of all patients with both an age 18 years or younger and a diagnosed penetrating missile injury (PMI) during the study interval. The authors analyzed factors determining outcome and demographic trends in this population, and they compared them with those in the more developed world Methods Fifty-one patients were the victims of armed conflict, although no one was directly a party to any battle. This mechanism of injury is in strong opposition to data in the literature from developed countries, in which most missile injuries are the result of suicide or homicide or are even sports related. Moreover, all previous studies on the pediatric population have considered only injuries from gunshots, but authors of the current study have included injuries from other penetrating missiles as well. Results On cross tabulation analysis using the chi-square test, the factors shown to correlate with outcome included the Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, pupillary abnormalities, patient age, hemodynamic status, and bihemispheric damage. On multinomial regression analysis, the two strongest predictors of death were GCS score and pupillary abnormalities. The GCS score and hemodynamic status were the strongest predictors of disability. Conclusions There was no difference in the prognostic factors for PMI between developing or more developed countries. Glasgow Coma Scale score, pupillary abnormalities, and hemodynamic status were the strongest predictors of outcome. In conflict zones in developing countries the victims were mostly innocent bystanders, whereas in the more developed countries homicides and suicides were the leading etiological factors.