J.Jpn. Surg. Soc.. 60(5): 840-850, 1959

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STUDIES ON THE WOUND SPECIALITY OF ELECTRIC INJURY

The wound of electric injury is different from another wound, because this wound extends gradually and its necrotic tissue does not demarcate so easily. I thought the causes of this wound speciality in the pathologic changes of the artery.
1) In the part which is completely damaged from the first day, the inner coat of the artery is necriotic, the media is also necrotic with leucocytic infiltration and the lumen is filled by blood clot that is organized in future.
2) In the part which surrounds the necrotic part and which is visible to be normal, the media is normal and the endothelial cell is hypertrophic or productive.
After about 10 days, intimal proliferation appears and extends day by day.
After about 20 days, lumen of the artery is thoroughly occluded and this wound is clinically demarcated.
In the basis of the difficulty of electric wound demarcation seems exist those chronic and ischemic changes of artery.
3) As the results of those pathologic changes, the changes of endothelial cells are probably due to the excitation from the lumen of blood vessel, but the pathologic changes of intimal cells are due to the irritation of the autonomic nerve of the adventitia.
4) In order to catch early the demarcation line, the measuring of skin temperature is very useful.
(author's abstract)

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