Citation

Doll D, Illert B, Bohrer S, Richter C, Woelfl C. Chirurg 2009; 80(4): 348-351.

Vernacular Title

Stumpfes Korperstammtrauma mit ballistischer Schutzweste. Prellmarken geben keine

Affiliation

Feld Hospital Mazaar e Sharif, Afghanistan mit der Abteilung für Chirurgie, Mazaar e Sharif, Afghanistan, ddoll@gmx.de.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Holtzbrinck Springer Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1007/s00104-008-1635-2

PMID

18854963

Abstract

It is well known that so-called bullet-proof vests offer protection against a wide range of penetrating trauma, but their protection against blunt trauma is less well understood. Fast projectiles may result in hematomas and contusions behind the armour. We report a traffic accident involving a young soldier wearing a ballistic protection vest resulting in a right thoracoabdominal blunt trauma leading to a confined liver compression rupture. As nearly no skin marks were detectable, we point out that every emergency department surgeon should be very suspicious if a patient wore a ballistic vest at the time of the accident - there may be no skin marks despite severe intra-abdominal trauma. Our patient recovered following hypotensive ICU treatment, thrombocyte mobilization, and factor VIIa substitution.

Language: de