Clinical profile of gun shot abdominal Injuries and a comparative evaluation with experimental gun shot firings Srivastava VR*, Senior Resident, Sinha US**,*, Professor & Head, Kapoor AK***, Professor & Head, Ahmad S****, Associate Professor, Chugh Y***, Junior Resident *General Surgery, S.R.N. Hospital, Allahabad, **Department of Forensic Medicine, M.L.N. Medical College, Allahabad ***Department of Pharmacology, M.L.N. Medical College, Allahabad. ****P.G. Department of Surgery, M.L.N. Medical College, Allahabad *For Correspondence: Dr U.S. Sinha, Professor & Head, Department of Forensic Medicine, M.L.N. Medical College, Allahabad-211002, U.P.
Abstract Of late, incidence of gunshot injuries are exhibiting a quantum leap owing to easy availability of firearms. Abdominal gunshot ranged from minor superficial pellet injuries to devastating soft tissues and visceral injuries. The study included 30 cases of abdominal gunshot and other associated injuries admitted to surgery wards of SRN Hospital. Younger age group (21–30 yrs) was more commonly involved 7(23.33%). M: F ratio was 6.5:1. The rural-urban ratio was 1.5:1. Most cases 20(66.67%) were due to assault. 24(80%) received bullet injuries and 6(20%) shotgun injuries. In 19(63.33%) cases 0.315 mm bullet was responsible, of these 15(50%) were due to country made ‘Katta’. 0.32 mm bullet was used only in 4(13.33%) cases. 28 were operated upon and in 2 cases of pellet injury (Type-I) conservative management was done. 22 patients of bullet and 5 pellet injuries were recovered and 3 cases expired. The small bowel was the commonest organ involved 27 cases followed by large bowel 13 cases. Primary repair was done in 21 small bowel injury, in 9 stomach, 3 liver, 1 urinary bladder and 11 out of 13 large bowel and 4 out of 5 cases of duodenal injury. In experimental firing with standard 12 Bore shotgun on hard contact scorching was noted up-to 30 cms, blast effect up-to 60 cms, blackening up-to 90 cms and central hole was observed up-to 5 meters 50 cms. The dispersal of pellet was observed at a distance of 180 cms and maximum diameter of dispersal was 5 cms. With country made pistol, scorching and blast effect was observed on hard contact upto 15 cms, blackening upto 30 cms and central hole up-to 90 cms. Dispersal of pellet began at a distance of 30 cms and was 5 cms in diameter. Our experimental findings are more or less well corroborated with the clinical profile of abdominal gunshot injuries in human beings. Top |