Epidemiological features and treatment of brain injuries attributable to Chinese Wenchuan earthquake / 中华创伤杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the epidemiologieal features and treatment of brain injury in Chinese Wenchuan earthquake so as to provide the experiences for improving treatment level. Methods A total of 685 patients with earthquake-induced brain injury in the City of Deyang were collected to ana-lyze age, injury type, injury localization and treatment characteristics. Results Of large number of earthquake victims, the number of the patients with brain injury ranked the second place, mainly minor and moderate brain injuries involving scalp laceration for the most and skull fracture and extradural hema-toma for the next. As for the age distribution of the patients, young and middie-aged patients accounted for the most, for they were at school or at work when the earthquake happened. Obvious position distribu-tion features were found in depressed fracture of skull and extredural hematoma but not in the scalp lacera-tion. Depressed fracture of skull occurred mostly at forehead and occiput while extradural hematoma could be most seen at froutotemple. Most brain injuries were combined with other injuries. Mainly extremity and pelvic fractures. Conclusions Self-protection sense and measures during earthquake are very important for decreasing incidence and severity of brain injuries. The management of rospimtory tract in prehospital care should be strengthened to avoid asphyxia and hence raise the success rate of treatment.