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Citation
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Ragonez D, Mimoun M, Chaouat M, Lévy S, Vairinho A, Boccara D, Serror K. J. Burn Care Res. 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub. |
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Abstract
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During the last three years, we have observed a new trend in our cities: Standing electric scooters (also called e-scooters). It is an ecologic, easy and cheap way of transportation with a worldwide rapid spreading in metropolitan areas. Nevertheless, its use remains unsafe and the recent literature reports an increase in traumatic lesions associated with the use of e-scooters. The Washington Post published that Hospital ER reported a 161% spike in visits involving electric scooters.
In this letter, we would like to report a new serious injury mechanism associated with standing electric scooters. Lately, we have observed our first case of burns caused by the explosion of lithium ion batteries from an e-scooter. We would like to share our experience on this new etiology of burns with a case report of burns of 22% of total skin surface due to a mechanism that have never been described with a standing electric scooter with European standards. A 50 years old male patient was referred to our burn center after experiencing the explosion of lithium ion batteries of his standing electric scooter. He bought his e-scooter one year ago in France (European standards). A few hours before the accident, he had recharged his standing electric scooter and it exploded 3 hours after being unplugged (Fig. 1). The explosion caused a blast propelling the patient out of the room and caused a home fire. Our patient suffered from both legs (Fig 2A and 2B) and right arm burns, representing 22% of the total skin surface, including 15% of deep burns. He had been operated on 2 times for excision and skin grafts on both legs at day 10 and day 20, before being discharged to a rehab center on day 40. He was then followed in outpatient clinic. The grafted areas were stabilized and the wound had totally healed.
Khor et al. (3) have reported another occurrence of burns caused by the explosion of lithium ion batteries of standing electric scooter in Asia (Singapore). Of the 4 people who were present, 2 suffered from inhalation injuries, one had a superficial burn to his hand and another required intensive care units with a 30% skin graft. We have no information in this article whether the battery was charging or not.
These cases highlight the problem of lithium battery explosions in e-scooters that was already described for smaller objects such as electronic cigarettes or cell phones ...
Language: en |