A ten-year retrospective analysis of electrocuted and thunderstruck patients admitted to the emergency medicine clinic of Ataturk University School of Medicine Hospital

ABSTRACT A Ten-Year Retrospective Analysis of Electrocuted and Thunderstruck Patients Admitted to the Emergency Medicine Clinic of Ataturk University School of Medicine Hospital Electrical injury is a rare but destructive type of injury that might have a high mortality and morbidity rate and causes damage to many systems of the body. The origin of the electrical current may be natural, or a man-made material. Electrical current in the nature is in the form of lightning and its mortality rate is quite high. Electrical injury is seen especially among working individuals. Damage in the tissue depends on the current, type of exposure, resistance of the tissue and duration of contact and it affects various systems such as cardiovascular system, nervous system, gastrointestinal system, musculoskeletal system and skin. Aim: To analyze demographics and laboratory data of the patients admitted to the Emergency Medicine Clinic of Ataturk University School of Medicine Hospital with the complaint of exposure to electrical current and lightning strike. Findings and Result : 320 patients who were admitted to the Emergency Medicine Clinic of Ataturk University School of Medicine Hospital with the complaint of exposure to electrical current and lightning strike, and were diagnosed to have electrical injury between January 1st, 2006 to November 6th, 2016 were included in the study 16.9% of the patients were female and 83.1% were male. Mean age was 24.01±14.59 years. Among the patients 48.4% lived in rural area and 51.6% lived in the and city. When we look at the type of the injuries, 46.6%, 45.6% and 7.8% of the patients suffered low voltage, high voltage and lightning, respectively. Exposure to electrical current was the most frequent in August; 76.2% of the patients had burns in the body; 27.5% had blunt trauma and ECG of all patients were obtained. Duration of hospitalization was found to be 10.12±18.82 days. Presenting GCS, type of admittance, number of consultations in the emergency department, presence of blunt trauma and duration of hospitalization were significantly different in different types of events (p<0.001). Mean CK and myoglobin levels were higher than the upper limits of the laboratory. CK-MB and Troponin I values were also significantly different among all the groups. Key Words: Emergency, electric, lightning, laboratory values