Arrow wound management in Papua New Guinea

Arrow injuries sustained during tribal fighting are a common reason for admission to the hospitals of Southern Highlands Province in Papua New Guinea (P.N.G.). The authors, Canadian and American family physicians with an aggregate 12 years' general practice experience in the P.N.G. Highlands, present the findings of a 1-year retrospective study of arrow wound victims admitted to two hospitals. Arrow wound injuries are a consequence of a variety of sociocultural factors that continue to result in their high incidence despite many decades of contact with the outside world. We present the details of the presentation and management of 90 cases including a preponderence of soft-tissue as well as intracranial, thoracic, and abdominal injuries. Illustrative case histories of the more challenging or unusual cases provide insight into the unique opportunity afforded the general practitioner/surgeon in managing a type of injury which has become virtually extinct in North American practice over the last 200 years.