Penetrating chest injury secondary to an improvised home-made marble airgun: a case report

Author:

Japzon John Kristoffer ManicaniORCID,Mokamad-Romancap Halima O

Abstract

BackgroundAn improvised air gun with marble bullets, locally known as “Jolen Gun”, is a type of home-made gun using Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) pipes and compressed air. It is mainly being used as a hunting tool in Central Mindanao. This “non-lethal” weapon has the potential in causing serious harm. There has been several incidents of minor injuries from this type of weapon in our institution but this is the first documented case of an improvised marble air-gun causing significant injury to the patient.Case reportA child was brought to a rural tertiary center after being shot in the chest using an improvised gun with marble as bullet. On evaluation, the patient had a single gunshot wound approximately 2cm x 2cm in size on the posterior chest at the right paravertebral area of the 4th thoracic vertebra. There was no exit wound noted. Chest CT done showed a rounded radiopaque foreign body seen in the right upper lung field with gunshot fracture involving the posterior aspect of the 4th rib. There was also pulmonary contusion of the right upper lobe and a fluid density at the right posterior pleural space attributed to a hemothorax. Open thoracotomy, removal of foreign body, repair of lung injury and debridement was done. Patient had an unremarkable post-operative course and was subsequently discharged.ConclusionAfter extensive search of both local and international literatures, this appears to be the first case involving a penetrating chest injury from an improvised marble air-gun which has been treated successfully. Although this is a low-energy type of weapon, it still has the potential to cause significant harm to the body. Relevant laws should be made to against the use of this type of weapon to prevent similar injuries in the future.

Publisher

BMJ

Subject

Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine,Surgery

同舟云学术

1.学者识别学者识别

2.学术分析学术分析

3.人才评估人才评估

"同舟云学术"是以全球学者为主线,采集、加工和组织学术论文而形成的新型学术文献查询和分析系统,可以对全球学者进行文献检索和人才价值评估。用户可以通过关注某些学科领域的顶尖人物而持续追踪该领域的学科进展和研究前沿。经过近期的数据扩容,当前同舟云学术共收录了国内外主流学术期刊6万余种,收集的期刊论文及会议论文总量共计约1.5亿篇,并以每天添加12000余篇中外论文的速度递增。我们也可以为用户提供个性化、定制化的学者数据。欢迎来电咨询!咨询电话:010-8811{复制后删除}0370

www.globalauthorid.com

TOP

Copyright © 2019-2024 北京同舟云网络信息技术有限公司
京公网安备11010802033243号  京ICP备18003416号-3