Citation

Cox P, Riveros R, Leiva C, Carvajal Y, Fuentes P, Recasens J, Covarrubias A, Torres F, Ramírez D, Verdugo M, Muñoz P. Lancet 2020; 395(10233): 1341-1342.

Affiliation

Centro de Neurología Traslacional, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile; Centro de Investigación Biomédica, Universidad de Valparaíso, Valparaíso, Chile.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S0140-6736(20)30067-2

PMID

32334697

Abstract

On Oct 14, 2019, a series of protests began in Chile after the Ministry of Transport introduced a fare increase for riding in the Metropolitan Public Transport Network, which led to an escalation of confrontations between local police, military forces, and protestors, in turn leading to a record number of patients with projectile-related injuries and severe ocular trauma.

Looking for the presence of projectiles, we retrospectively reviewed imaging studies, including CT scans and x-rays, for Oct 19–28, 2019, using the Picture Archiving and Communication System at Hospital Carlos Van Buren, Valparaíso, Chile. We determined the body segment distribution of these projectiles, their size, mean density in Hounsfield units (HU), and whether they were fragmented or multiple.

A total of 49 imaging studies showed projectiles. Two different curves appear in the projectile density distribution, probably explained by the presence of both pellets and bullets. About 40% of projectiles were located in the head or neck segment. The median density of projectiles ...

Language: en