Browsing by Author "De Groot, K M"
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- ItemOpen AccessFatal penetrating injuries of the chest(1996) Scholtz, Hendrik Johannes; De Groot, K MIn the Republic of South Africa, an autopsy is required in all cases of unnatural death, or in cases where the cause of death is unknown in terms of the Inquest Act of 1959. These are performed at the Salt River Medicolegal Laboratory by Forensic Pathologists and Registrars of the Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology of the University of Cape Town. The Salt River Medicolegal Laboratory serves the greater Cape Town area with a population of approximately 2,5 million, including the magisterial districts of Cape Town, Wynberg, Mitchell's Plain and Simonstown. Cape Town has one of the world's highest homicide rates and in 1986 the incidence was 56, 91 100000 population per annum. In contrast, Singapore has a homicide rate of only 2, 5/100 000, while the United States has an overall homicide rate of 7,7/ 100 000 population. In order to document the true impact of penetrating chest injuries, and to place mortality data in perspective, a retrospective descriptive study of all cases with fatal penetrating chest injuries admitted to the Salt River Medicolegal Laboratory in Cape Town during 1990 was undertaken. In 1990, a total of 5 758 cases was admitted to the Salt River Medicolegal Laboratory of which 1834 cases (39%) were the result of homicide. Of the homicide cases, 408 (22%) were the result of firearm injuries. A total of 2044 (35, 5%) cases admitted was deemed to have died of natural causes. This study identified a total of 841 cases of fatal penetrating injuries of the chest admitted during 1990, which constituted 22,6% of all non-natural cases admitted.
- ItemOpen AccessPenetrating injuries of the thoracic aorta and its branches(1996) Fulton, James Oliver; De Groot, K MPenetrating injuries of the intrathoracic great vessels are well recognized although uncommon. In the First World War no survivors with thoracic vascular injury were recorded among soldiers treated with penetrating injuries to the chest as recorded by Makins. The first record of successful repair of a penetrating thoracic aortic injury was in 1922 by Dshanelidze in Russia. Similar to Makins' experience, De Bakey and Simeone in the Second World War recorded no surviving patients with involvem_ent of the thoracic aorta and its branches among American soldiers. Furthermore, no injuries to the thoracic aorta and its branches were recorded in Korean war soldiers undergoing vascular surgery by both Jahnke and Hughes. Rich reported 3 survivors of aortic injuries in the Vietnam war among 1000 patients with vascular injuries. By 1969 only 43 successfully treated cases had been reported but increasing numbers of patients sustaining injuries to the great arteries at the level of the thoracic inlet have been reported subsequently in civilian practice. Experience has grown over the years but patient numbers remain small and individual surgeons may only manage 2 or 3 of these patients in his life time. The largest single reported series consists of 93 patients in Memphis over a 13 year period. All victims were rapidly transported to hospital and were resuscitated en route. As a consequence, a large number critically ill patients reached hospital who may have died in earlier years. However some of these patients inevitably died in hospital contributing to the high mortality of 16, 7% reported. Our experience is different in that most of our victims who reach hospital will survive as poor community triage facilities prevent more than 95% of penetrating thoracic vascular trauma victims reaching hospital alive, hence we have a selection of less severely injured patients who eventually reach our hospital alive producing our mortality rate of 5%. Another important difference is that most of our patients suffered stab wounds as compared to gunshot wounds noted in the Memphis. Buchan and Robbs in Durban reported on 52 patients who had penetrating cervicomediastinal vascular injury with a remarkably similar experience to our own in Cape Town with the exception of a larger number of aortic injuries (21 out of 52 patients) recorded and a higher mortality rate of 17% as a result of these aortic injuries.