Epidemiology and short-term mortality in traumatic patients admitted to Shariati Hospital in Iran between 2012 and 2013

Purpose Trauma is an inevitable part of the health burden in every country. Both the preventive and rehabilitative aspects of traumatic injuries are expensive. Since most of the injuries happen in low- and middle-income developing countries, a judicious allocation of the limited resources to the most cost-efficient strategies is necessary. The present study was designed to report the causes of trauma, injured body regions, trauma severity scores and the one year survival rate of a randomly selected sample of trauma patients in a major referral hospital in Tehran, Iran. Methods We chose and analyzed a random subgroup of traumatic patients admitted during the one-year period of May 2012 to May 2013 to Shariati Hospital, a major University Teaching Hospital in Tehran, Iran. Patients who stayed at the hospital for less than 24 h were excluded. In total, 73 traumatic patients were registered. The mean age was (40.19 ± 20.34) years and 67.1 of them were male. Results In general, the most common cause of injury was falls (47.9), followed by road traffic crashes (RTCs, 40.8). Assault and exposure to inanimate mechanical forces each were only associated with 5.6 of all injuries. The only cause of injury in ages of more than 65 years was fall. The most common cause of injury in ages between 15 and 45 years was RTCs. During the study, two deaths occurred: one was at ICU and the other was at home. The most commonly injured body region was the head (23.8), followed by the elbow and forearm (19), hip and thigh (15.9), and multiple body regions (14.3). The mean abbreviated injury score was 2.23 ± 1.02; injury severity index was 7.26 ± 7.06; and revised trauma score was 7.84, calculated for 38 patients. Conclusion Prevention strategy of traumatic injury should focus on falls and RTCs, which are respectively the most common cause of trauma in older aged people and young males. © 2015 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V

Hemi-central retinal artery occlusion following methanol toxicity

Objective: To describe a patient with hemi-retinal artery occlusion following methanol toxicity.Methods: Observational case report.Results: We report a case presented with an acute altitudinal visual field loss in the right eye following consumption of illicit alcoholic drink. In fundus photography, a well demarcated superior hemi-retinal whitening with foveal sparing was noted. Careful inspection of the optic nerve head in the right eye revealed that there was no main trunk of the central retinal artery anterior to the lamina cribrosa. Two separately emerging superior and inferior arterial trunks were noted. In fundus fluorescein angiography, earlier dye filling in the territory of the superior arterial trunk compared to the inferior arterial trunk was evident.Conclusion: Hemi-central retinal occlusion may happen as an ocular consequence of methanol toxicity in patients with a proximal bifurcation of the central retinal artery