[HIGH VOLTAGE ELECTRIC INJURY: MECHANISM OF INJURY, CLINICAL FEATURES AND INITIAL EVALUATION.]

Electrical injury is an infrequent but potentially devastating form of multisystem injury associated with high morbidity and mortality. Despite significant improvement in injury prevention and implementation of safety protocols at work places, electrical injury accounts for more than 500 deaths per year in the United States with a mortality rate of 10-30%. Electrical injuries are traditionally divided into low-voltage electric power injuries (less than 1,000V) and high-voltage )more than 1,000V). In contrast with other types of trauma, high voltage injuries present some rather unique problems that require a high index of suspicion and awareness of all possible manifestations. Electrical injury should be viewed and managed as a multisystem injury, since there is virtually no organ that is protected against it. The most essential concept of successful management of patients who sustain high voltage injury is that there is no relationship between skin burn, vital organs involvement and severity of injuries. This review aims to provide a comprehensive overview of reported high voltage electrical injury manifestations in an attempt to gain a better understanding of the distribution of morbidity and clinical features of the injury. We tried to encompass most of the reported cases of high voltage electrical injuries in order to give the readers a general view of the spectrum of injuries that can be encountered in victims suffering high voltage current, aiming to increase the awareness of emergency care and trauma teams to this rare but dangerous and potentially fatal type of injury.