Citation

Toy J, Ball BJ, Tredget EE. J. Burn Care Res. 2012; 33(3): e160-5.

Affiliation

Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Surgery, and Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2012, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/BCR.0b013e318239ca75

PMID

22249101

Abstract

Electrical injuries often result in extensive tissue damage. Vascular damage may occur resulting in thrombosis and spontaneous rupture of blood vessels. Rupture of brachial, radial, ulnar, internal mammary, and obturator arteries has been reported in the literature. The authors present two cases of carotid artery rupture following high-voltage electrical injuries. A 21-year-old man was climbing a fence near a high-voltage power line. A gold chain he was wearing around his neck caught on the power line, resulting in a 10% circumferential electrical injury to his neck. He presented with visible arterial bleeding from the large neck wound and was taken to the operating room. A 1-cm laceration in the carotid artery was repaired with a vein patch. On the second postoperative day, the patch dislodged, and a spontaneous rupture of the common carotid artery occurred. The damaged carotid artery was subsequently ligated. The patient recovered with no neurological sequelae. A 43-year-old man suffered a high-voltage injury while working on an electrical panel, resulting in a 50% TBSA full-thickness burn to the face, scalp, trunk, and extremities. Four weeks after admission, a latissimus dorsi myocutaneous free flap was used for coverage of exposed outer table of the skull. Intraoperatively, the carotid artery spontaneously ruptured proximal to where the dissection was being carried out. The patient recovered with no neurological sequelae. High-voltage electrical injury results in significant damage to blood vessels via a number of mechanisms. Rupture of a major vessel is a rare, life-threatening sequelae of electrical injury.

Language: en