High-pressure injection injuries to the upper extremity and the review of the literature

Abstract

BACKGROUND: High-pressure injection injuries of the hand are rare severe injuries. This study aimed to present a retrospective analysis of current and possible prognostic factors, treatment modalities and evaluation criteria. METHODS: Ten patients who had high-pressure injection injury to their upper extremity between 2005–2018 were included in this study. All patients were evaluated for the compartment syndrome; if exists fasciotomy and wide debridement were performed. After the first debridement, the second debridement was considered within the first 24 hours. RESULTS: In this study, 10 patients (mean age: 30) were evaluated retrospectively. The injected materials were the animal vaccine, thinner, oil, diesel, water, plastic and paint. Preoperative and postoperative mean WBC levels were 14.73 K/µL and 9.62 K/µL, respec-tively. Preoperative and postoperative mean neutrophil levels were 11.4 K/µL and 6.49 K/µL, respectively. CONCLUSION: Early and serial debridement and compartment syndrome evaluation are required. Despite these cautions, amputation may occur. Material, injection force and the time elapsed are the main determinants in prognosis. Aggressive debridement is required in high-pressure injection injuries. However, the adequacy of debridement should be evaluated because it is mostly impossible to completely clean the tissue from diesel or thinner. According to the experience of 10 cases in our series, when clinical and macro-scopic debridement adequacy was observed, a decrease in WBC and neutrophil levels was observed simultaneously. For this reason, WBC and neutrophil levels may be an indicator of the adequacy of debridement, although these injuries are very rare, larger series are needed for this interpretation.