Surgical Mini-Lectures and Clinics
Friday, October 16, 2009
3:30PM - 5:30PM
S333
Treatment of Gunshot Injuries to the Face
Handouts Not
Currently Available
Micha Peled, DMD, MD
Chairman, Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery Department, Rambam Medical Center, Technion Faculty of Medicine
Haifa, Israel
Synopsis
The emergency treatment of gunshot injuries to the face includes airway protection and control of bleeding. A very important issue is the safe evacuation of the injured person to a level I trauma center specialized in multidisciplinary trauma management. The primary surgical treatment starts as soon as possible and includes copious irrigation and debridement while preserving soft and hard tissues, stabilization of jaws and suturing of intraoral and extraoral tissues to cover the comminuted bone and proper drainage and antibiotic treatment. Intermediate reconstruction starts weeks later and may include bone grafting and preprosthetic oral soft tissue procedures prior to placement of dental implants. The final reconstructive phase consists of prosthetic implant-based rehabilitation to enable proper oral function and facial esthetics. Based on our recent years experience we formulated a treatment protocol for gunshot injuries to the face, which we successfully implemented during the Second Lebanon War in the summer of 2006. During the presentation, a methodological case series of different GSW will be presented and discussed.
Learning Objectives
At the conclusion of this presentation, participants should be able to:
- Apply knowledge regarding the extent of the injury with soft and hard tissue involvement in different types of ballistic injuries.
- Describe the sequence of surgical treatment for ballistic injuries to the face in low-velocity versus high-velocity injuries, emphasizing the importance of tissue preservation.
- Conduct final reconstruction of patients with ballistic injuries to the face using bone grafts and dental implants.