Study design: Studies on the concept of Damage Control Surgery (DCS) in the management of firearm injuries to the oral and maxillofacial region are still scarce, hence the basis for the current study.
Objectives: The objectives of the current study is to share our experience in the management of maxillofacial gunshot injuries with emphasis on DCS and early definitive surgery.
Methods: This was a retrospective study of combatant Yemeni patients with maxillofacial injuries who were transferred across the border from Yemen to Najran, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Demographics and etiology of injuries were stored. Paths of entry and exit of the projectiles were also noted. Also recorded were types of gunshot injury and treatment protocols adopted. Data was stored and analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows Version 25 (Armonk, NY: IBM Corp).
Results: A total of 408 victims, all males, were seen during the study period with 173 (42.4%) males sustaining gunshot injuries to the maxillofacial region. Their ages ranged from 21 to 56 years with mean ± SD (27.5 ± 7.6) years. One hundred and twenty-one (70.0%) victims had extraoral bullet entry, while 53 (30.0%) victims had intraoral entry route. Ocular injuries, consisting of 25 (14.5%) cases of ruptured globe and 6 (3.5%) cases of corneal injuries, were the most commonly associated injuries. A total of 78 (45.1%) hemodynamically unstable victims had DCS as the adopted treatment protocol while early definitive surgery was carried out in 47(27.2%) hemodynamically stable victims. ORIF was the treatment modality used for the fractures in 132 (76.3%) of the victims.
Conclusions: We observed that 42.4% of the war victims sustained gunshot injuries. DCS with ORIF was the main treatment protocol adopted in the management of the hemodynamically unstable patients.
Keywords: damage control surgery; gunshot; maxillofacial; salvage surgery.
© The Author(s) 2021.