Citation

Cahill K, Tiong W, Conroy FJ. J. Burn Care Res. 2013; 35(5): e353-6.

Affiliation

From the Department of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery, University College Hospital Galway, Ireland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, American Burn Association, Publisher Lippincott Williams and Wilkins)

DOI

10.1097/BCR.0000000000000024

PMID

24270082

Abstract

Electrocution injuries account for a significant amount of burns unit admissions each year, and can be fatal. These injuries are divided into high-voltage (over 1000 volts) and low-voltage (less than 1000 volts) injuries, with lightning strikes (greater than 100 million volts) considered separately. Although the majority of electrocution injuries are of low voltage, most of the published reports concern industrial/high-voltage and lightning injuries. This disparity may trivialize low-voltage injuries in the minds of clinicians. We report a rare case of trineural (median, ulnar, and radial) injury in an upper limb after a low-voltage electrocution, and discuss the pathogenesis, investigation, and treatment of these injuries.

Language: en