HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Berg, J. S. Articles by Morse, M. S. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Berg, J. S. Articles by Morse, M. S.

Diffuse Electrical Injury

^* Mental Health Services Department, Naval Medical Center, San Diego, California;
Department of Engineering (215 Loma Hall), University of San Diego, 5998 Alcala Park, San Diego, CA 92110. E-mail: jsberg3{at}aol.com; mmorse{at}sandiego.edu

EXTRACT

Electrical injuries occur relatively infrequently but can lead to various immediate and delayed neurological and neuropsychological consequences. Many physicians are familiar with high voltage injury with significant full thickness burns, peripheral nerve damage, and possibly brain ischaemia secondary to cardiorespiratory arrest. Other indirect neurological consequences are traumatic brain and spinal cord injury secondary to a fall after the electrical injury. Neurologists may be less familiar with delayed spinal cord damage and a clinical picture such as a lower motor neuron syndrome, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or transverse myelitis – days or decades following the electrical injury.

Even rarer, and the focus of this article, is what has been referred to as diffuse electrical injury where there are diffuse symptoms, both ‘path related’ and remote to the theoretical current pathway (the linear path of the electrical current from entry point to exit point). This produces remote physical, neurological or neuropsychological symptoms that may ...

[PDF of this article]