A new model of blast injury from a spherical explosive and its special wound in the maxillofacial region

Abstract

Objective: The goal of this study was to establish an efficient explosive model with spherical explosives for the study of blast injury and its wound characteristics in the maxillofacial region. Methods: Different spherical explosives were used to produce blast waves and to establish the wound model. Fresh sheep heads as the targets were used for the study of wound characteristics. The wounding parameters and the injuries of targets after explosion were observed. Results: The overpressure values of blast waves decreased exponentially along with the increase of distances to explosives and so did the tissue damage. The blast injury is quite different from other injuries and is more serious. A kind of special "split fracture" of the mandibles was found. Conclusions: The new explosive wound model with spherical explosives can be used for the study of blast injury in the laboratory. The injury manner of blast wave and the local anatomy of tissues resulted in the special wound characteristics.