Disruption of symphysis pubis while horse riding: a report of two cases

Two unusual cases of disruption of the symphysis pubis as a result of horse riding accidents are reported. Both were treated satisfactorily by support in a pelvic sling.     

Hand burns caused by electric fires

Ninety cases of electric-fire burns of the hand treated at the Birmingham Accident Hospital Burns Unit between 1961 and 1970 are presented. There were 82 thermal and 8 electrical burns in 53 males and 37 females. The use of fireguards, type of electric fire, and mode of injury are analysed. Surgical management is discussed and data on early excision and grafting and late grafting are presented. The new British Standard Specification for fireguards of electric heating appliances should help to reduce these disabling accidents in the future.     

Mountain rescue transport

Deaths on Scottish mountains during a thirteen-year period were reviewed. Only five of 175 fatalities occurred during the stretcher journey: 200 patients were carried down alive. This review produced little evidence of serious harm from mountain rescue transport.     

A case of traumatic bilateral superficial dislocation of the testis.

A rare case of traumatic bilateral dislocation of the testis is described. Aetiology, management, factors which influence treatment and prognosis, and the differential diagnosis are discussed.     

A skeletal traction stirrup with self-aligning low friction joints to reduce pin loosening

Skeletal traction may be complicated by loosening of the pin transfixing the bone, especially if the bone is osteoporotic. A loose pin predisposes to infection of the pin track.A skeletal traction stirrup with self-aligning low friction joints has been developed to reduce the incidence of pin loosening.     

Injury and pregnancy

This subject receives very little attention in textbooks and most of the articles in journals report small numbers of injuries of one kind or another. One general review suggests that between 5 and 10 per cent of pregnant women suffer injury, usually with no risk to the pregnancy: for example, the incidence of abortion ascribed to accidental injury is less than 1 in 10,000. Personal and reported experience can be summarized as follows. The baby may be injured during pregnancy or during birth, or may be harmed by the effects or complications of injury to the mother, e.g. Gram-negative septicaemia or hypoxic states. Injuries inflicted on the baby during pregnancy are most often fractures, which affect the skull almost as often as any other bone, and frequently accompany fractures of the mother's pelvis. Gunshot and other penetrating injuries of the child are rare and are not always fatal. Fractures of the maternal pelvis are the most frequent of the major injuries and are serious to viscera and other parts of the body. In some patients deformation of the pelvis can be corrected or prevented by operation, but it is usually best accepted. Rigid internal fixation of fractures of the lower limbs sustained in the later months of pregnancy can make labour much easier for the patient and her attendants. If the effect of injury on pregnancy is usually obvious, the effect of pregnancy on recovery from injury is usually not.     

Self-inflicted rotation osteotomy of the tibia

A case is described in which two accidental injuries were instrumental in correcting bilateral club feet. The role of rotation osteotomy in the correction of deformity of the foot is discussed.     

Analysis of fractures treated in the Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, in 1972, with special reference to gunshot wounds and bomb blast injuries

The total number of patients admitted to the Fracture Unit in the Royal Victoria Hospital in 1972 is recorded and classified according to cause.

Fractures resulting from gunshot wounds and bomb injuries are examined more closely together with associated injuries and complications. These groups are compared briefly with the open fractures resulting from road traffic accidents.

Treatment of fractures in gunshot wounds and bomb injuries is discussed.

Reference is made to the mechanisms of injury by gunshot and explosions.     

Jaundice as a sign of delayed gall-bladder perforation following blunt abdominal trauma.

A case of delayed rupture of the gall-bladder following blund abdominal trauma is presented. A discussion of the aetiology, clinical and biochemical manifestations, and prognosis of this condition follows.