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Electrical injuries are of very common occurrence in India and can be rarely fatal. Usually most of the patients recover without any serious complications. Rarely, neurologic aftereffects have been observed in some survivors. These neurologic insults can occur as immediate or delayed manifestations and can affect the nervous system at various levels resulting in hemiplegia, aphasia, parkinsonism, choreoathetosis, and can also involve brainstem, spinal cord, peripheral nerves, and autonomic nervous system. The involvement of vertebrobasilar territory is a rare complication of electrical injury. We herein report a case of 55-year-old male laborer who presented with vertebrobasilar territory ischemic stroke, which occurred 2 weeks after an electrical injury. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first ante mortem case report of a posterior circulation ischemic stroke occurring as a delayed complication of electrical injury., (Copyright © 2014 National Stroke Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: The objective of this study was to analyze the epidemiology, presentation, management, and complications of electrical burn injuries in urban children., Methods: Data from records and clinical data were collected retrospectively and prospectively during 2008 to 2010., Results: Of 41 children enrolled, the mean age of children enrolled was 8.1 ± 4.5 years. Low-voltage injury was seen in 28 (68.2%), and 13 (31.8%) had high-voltage injuries. Low-voltage injuries were most commonly (52.45%) secondary to direct contact with live wire, whereas high-voltage injuries in 70% were due to direct contact with broken wires lying in fields/rooftops. Fourteen children of the 41 enrolled had associated injuries. Low-voltage injuries were associated with minor burns, seizures, tibial fracture, eyelid burn, scalp hematoma, and speech and visual impairment, whereas high-voltage injuries were associated with cardiac arrest, extradural hematoma, visceral burns, pulmonary hemorrhage and hypoxic encephalopathy, and postelectrocution acute respiratory distress syndrome. Surgical interventions done included split-thickness skin grafting, fasciotomy, and amputation procedures. The mean duration of hospital stay of all the children enrolled was 9.02 days with 35 children discharged, 71.4% of them having low-voltage injuries. Four children died, 75% of them having high-voltage injury, whereas 2 children left without medical advice, both having low-voltage injuries., Conclusions: Children are a major group susceptible to electrical injuries in our country. Most of the mechanisms leading to them are easily preventable, but occur because of lack or awareness among the children and their guardians. Burn prevention program should be implemented incorporating these epidemiological data.

Ten cases of acute renal failure (ARF) were seen in the period from July 1990 to August 1991 in the Nephrology Department of the SIMS Hospital, Srinagar. All were males in the age group of 18-28 years and in apparent good health when apprehended by the police. There was alleged history of physical torture of different types. All had been beaten on the buttocks, back and limbs; in addition, 2 cases had been given repeated electric shocks and 1 case put to 'sit-and-stand' exercise for about 3 h. The interval between the first day of torture till they came to our observation varied from 4 to 11 days. The main clinical features at the time of presentation were generalized aches and weakness (10), oligoanuria (9), vomiting (8), hypertension (6), acidosis (10), facial puffiness and pedal edema (6), fever and shivering (3), pulmonary edema (2), stupor (4), and hyperkalemia (5). All the cases had an established ARF (serum creatinine 668-1,997 mumol/l and serum urea 21.8-71.8 mmol/l) when first seen. Muscle enzymes, creatine phosphokinase, lactic dehydrogenase and serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase were all significantly raised indicating rhabdomyolysis. All showed evidence of myoglobin casts in urine. Nine had oliguric and 1 had nonoliguric ARF. All except the 1 case with nonoliguric ARF were managed with peritoneal dialysis and/or hemodialysis. All recovered. Early recognition of ARF is important since the main attention in such cases is directed towards the surgical aspect.