Electrical Burns and Their Treatment in a Tertiary Hospital in Albania

The electrical current burns represent a very aggressive pathology that leaves many functional and aesthetic consequences.

To evaluate the epidemiology of electrical burn injury and its associated complications and treatment.

Demographic data, aetiology, burn percentage and other measures related to electrical burn injury of 33 electrical burn patients in a tertiary hospital during the years 2015-2017.

The mean age of patients is 31 (± 8.3) years old with a predominance of males (94%). The vast majority of injuries occurred at work (p < 0.01), superior extremities were more affected with hand (21.2%) and fingers (18.2%) being the main point of contact (p < 0.01). Muscular fasciotomy was performed in all patients who were treated surgically (n = 27), amputation was performed in 11 (40.7%) of cases, but amputated sites were more than the number of patients affected. Myoglobinuria (39.4%), cardio-respiratory distress (12.1%) contusion cerebri (6.1%), were the complication encountered in patients.

Electrical burn injuries are still amongst the highest accident-related morbidities. Educating the population about the dangers and hazards associated with improper use of electrical devices and instruments is imperative.