Explosion has become one of the most common causes of death of the combat casualties. I made a comment on one case of autopsy whose cause of death was the accidental denotation of a 355 g rifle grenade and reviewed the clinical approaches and strategies of the blast injury.
Accidents ; Blast Injuries ; Explosions ; Humans

Blast Injuries ; Deafness ; etiology ; Humans

Renal injury inflicted by high-velocity missiles is serious because of the wide spread blast injury to tissue. Blast effect may lead to a secondary tissue necrosis with hemorrhage, fistula and infection. Recently we experienced one case of bilateral injury by gunshot complicated by renocolic fistula and intrarenal aneurysm. Management of delayed sequale of renal injury was presentedand discussed.
Aneurysm* ; Blast Injuries ; Fistula* ; Hemorrhage ; Necrosis ; Wounds, Gunshot*

During the process of unsealing an old ammunition box in order to destroy it, a 42-year-old ammunition technician was fatally injured due to an anti-personnel ARGES EM01-type rifle grenade detonation. The explosion took place in the victim's hands, in point-blank range. This report aimed to show the anatomical position, the severity and the dispersion extent of the multiple injuries in the human body due to the detonation, and draw firm conclusions regarding the position of the human body and the circumstances prevailing at the moment of the explosion.
Accidents ; Adult ; Blast Injuries ; etiology ; Explosions ; Fatal Outcome ; Humans ; Male

Burn-blast combined injury is caused by two injury factors--heat and blast, which inflict the body at the same time or in sequence. The incidence of the combined injury is high either in wartime or in peacetime, and the mortality is much higher than that of an injury due to either one injury factor. In order to elucidate the mechanism, characteristics of the injury and the treatment of the combined injury, lots of studies were carried out both at home and abroad. The paper presents the data of burn-blast injury from a part of experimental studies and some clinical experience in the past forty years. The paper may be useful to medical doctors who may treat burn-blast injury in future.
Animals ; Blast Injuries ; therapy ; Burns ; therapy ; Humans ; Multiple Trauma ; therapy

Adult ; Blast Injuries ; therapy ; Explosions ; Humans ; Male ; Multiple Trauma ; therapy

Accidents, Occupational ; Adult ; Blast Injuries ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Silanes

PURPOSE: High explosives are used to produce blast waves to study their biological effects. The lungs are considered as the critical target organ in blast-effect studies. The degree of lung hemorrhaging is related to both the explosive power and the increased lung weight. We studied the characteristics of the biological effects from an air explosion of a thermobaric bomb in a high-altitude environment and the lethality and lung injury severity of goats in different orientations and distances. METHODS: Goats were placed at 2.5, 3, 4, and 5 m from the explosion center and exposed them to an air blast at an altitude of 4700-meter. A group of them standing oriented to the right side and the other group seated facing the explosion center vertically. The lung injuries were quantified according to the percentage of surface area contused, and using the pathologic severity scale of lung blast injury (PSSLBI) to score the 4 injury categories (slight, moderate, serious and severe) as 1, 2, 3, and 4, respectively. The lung coefficient (lung weight [g]/body weight [kg]) was the indicator of pulmonary edema and was related to lung injury severity. Blast overpressure data were collected using blast test devices placed at matching locations to represent loadings to goats. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, version 26.0, statistical software (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL, USA). RESULTS: In total, 127 goats were involved in this study. Right-side-standing goats had a significantly higher mortality rate than those seated vertical-facing (p < 0.05). At the 2.5 m distance, the goat mortality was nearly 100%, whereas at 5 m, all the goats survived. Lung injuries of the right-side-standing goats were 1 - 2 grades more serious than those of seated goats at the same distances, the scores of PSSLBI were significantly higher than the seated vertical-facing goats (p < 0.05). The lung coefficient of the right-side-standing goats were significantly higher than those of seated vertical-facing (p < 0.05). Mortality, PSSLBI, and the lung coefficient results indicated that the right-side-standing goats experienced severer injuries than the seated vertical-facing goats, and the injuries were lessened as the distance increased. The blast overpressure was consistent with these results. CONCLUSION The main killing factors of the thermobaric bomb in the high-altitude environment were blast overpressure, blast wind propulsions and burn. The orientation and distances of the goats significantly affected the blast injury severity. These results may provide a research basis for diagnosing, treating and protecting against injuries from thermobaric explosions.
Animals ; Lung Injury/etiology* ; Blast Injuries ; Goats ; Explosions ; Lung/pathology*

OBJECTIVETo determine the nature and extent of Iranian casualties by ballistic missile attacks during the eight years of the Iraq-Iran war.

METHODSThe data collected about Iraqi missile strikes on Iranian cities included the following: date and time, number and type of missiles, cities targeted, and injuries and deaths resulting from impacts of missiles in civilian areas. The data were extracted from a database that was constructed by the army staff headquarters based on daily reports of Iranian army units during the war.

RESULTSOver a period of eight years (1980-1988), Iraqi army fired 533 ballistic missiles at Iranian territories. From those, 414 missiles (77.7%) landed on Iranian cities. The impacts of these missiles caused the deaths of 2,312 civilians and injured 11,625 others. Three types of ballistic missiles were used: FROG-7, Scud, and Al-Hussein (a modified version of the Scud missile). Twenty-seven cities in Iran were struck by Iraqi ballistic missiles. The highest mortalities from ballistic missiles were in Dezful and Tehran. Iraqi missile attacks continued for 90 months (2,748 days).

CONCLUSIONOur results point to the necessity of investigating the psychological consequences of Iraqi ballistic missile attacks among survivors in 27 Iranian cities during the eight years of the Iraq-Iran war.

Blast Injuries ; epidemiology ; Humans ; Iran ; Iraq ; epidemiology ; Time Factors ; Warfare ; Wounds and Injuries ; epidemiology ; Wounds, Gunshot ; epidemiology

OBJECTIVEThis study was to establish an animal model to imitate facial nerves injury by explosion.

METHODSThe impact was simulated by detonator blast in the distance of 5 cm, 10 cm and 15 cm over the face of dogs under anesthesia and the edge injury of masseters were made by rifle-shot steel ball to imitate segment injury in real explosion. The dogs were killed after different time of injury and the heart, lung, brain and facial nerve were taken to observe the pathological changes in order to evaluating the wound effect in different distances.

RESULTSThe animal was injured severely in the distance of 5 cm and could not survive for a long time because of severe damage to brain, heart and lung. The dogs injured at 10 cm could survive after emergency treatment, and there was diffusing hemorrhage in edematous nerve trunk. In the distance of 15 cm, the dogs were injured slightly and, as the distance to the explosive source increased, the local wound became slighter. Under light microscope, the breakage and necrosis of facial nerve fibers could be widely observed, degenerative and necrotic neurons with infiltrating inflammatory cells could be found in the facial nerve nuclei as well.

CONCLUSIONThe dog's traumatic model established by impact wave and segment in this experiment is an appropriate animal model for the research of explosive effect on facial nerves because of its controllable and repeatable injuring conditions.

Animals ; Blast Injuries ; complications ; pathology ; Disease Models, Animal ; Dogs ; Facial Nerve Injuries ; etiology ; pathology ; Female ; Male