[Injuries caused by electricity]

We review a patient material consisting of cases with electrical injuries submitted to Sentralsykehuset i Akershus, Norway over a period of ten years. 18 cases were treated during the period 1 January 1978 to 31 December 1987. All were men, with a mean age of 33 years. All injuries were caused by AC current; seven were low voltage, and 11 high voltage injuries. The low voltage injuries proved to be relatively innocent, but 2/11 with high voltage injuries died. Many of the high voltage patients had severe deep tissue, mainly muscular, damage. The two who died had respiratory arrest, were unconscious on admission and had cardiac arrest. Only one with cardiac arrest on admission and two with respiratory arrest survived; three of the five who were unconscious on admission survived. Optimal treatment of injuries caused by electricity requires a thorough understanding of the special pathophysiology of this condition.