Birth Injury: From 1 Different Sources
Damage sustained during birth. Minor injuries, such as bruising and swelling of the scalp during a vaginal delivery (see cephalhaematoma) are common. More serious injury can occur, particularly if the baby is excessively large and has difficulty in passing through the birth canal. A breech delivery may result in injury to nerves in the shoulder, causing temporary paralysis in the arm. The face may be paralysed temporarily if the facial nerve is traumatized by forceps. Fractured bones are another hazard of difficult deliveries, but the bones usually heal easily. (See also birth defects; brain damage.)
See CONTRACEPTION.... birth control
In 2003, 695,500 live births were registered in the United Kingdom; 38 per cent occurred outside marriage. Overall, total fertility is falling slowly. The number of births per 1,000 women aged over 40 years has been rising, and in 1999 was 8.9 per cent. In Great Britain in 2003, 193,817 legal abortions were performed under the Abortion Act 1967.... birth rate
An injury to the neck region caused by the neck being forcibly bent backwards and forwards (or the other way around). Car accidents are a common cause, when a driver or passenger is suddenly decelerated. The injury usually affects the ligaments, spinal joints and soft tissues of the neck. Subluxation (partial dislocation) of a cervical joint sometimes occurs and cervical vertebra may occasionally be fractured if the forces are severe. Pain and sti?ness of the neck result and these may worsen after a day or so. Treatment includes immobilisation of the neck in a collar, and analgesic and muscle-relaxing drugs. PHYSIOTHERAPY may be necessary. The patient usually recovers fully but may take several weeks to do so.... whiplash injury
The passage that extends from the neck of the womb (UTERUS), known as the CERVIX UTERI, to the opening of the VAGINA. The baby passes along this passage during childbirth.... birth canal
See CONGENITAL.... birth defects
Accidental perforation of the skin by an injection needle, commonly of the hand or ?nger and usually by a nurse or doctor administering a therapeutic injection. The term also refers to accidental injuries from injection needles discarded by drug abusers. Dangerous infections such as viral HEPATITIS or HIV may be acquired from needle-stick injuries, and there are strict procedures about the disposal of used syringes and needles in medical settings.... needle-stick injury
See ABORTION; FETUS; PREGNANCY AND LABOUR.... premature birth
See child abuse.... nonaccidental injury
(RSI) An overuse injury that affects keyboard workers and musicians, causing weakness and pain in the wrists and fingers.... repetitive strain injury
Birth marks are of various kinds; the most common are port-wine marks (see NAEVUS). Pigment spots are found, very often raised above the skin surface and more or less hairy, being then called moles (see MOLE).... birth marks
A pool of warm water in which a woman can give birth to her baby. The infant is delivered into the water. The method was introduced during the 1980s and is claimed to make delivery less painful and upsetting.... birth pool
Negative effect resulting from a medical treatment.... iatrogenic illness (or injury)
(See also CHILD ABUSE). Though NAI has traditionally been seen as abuse against children – and they are still the main victims – such injuries can also be in?icted on vulnerable adults. Adults with learning diffculties, dementias or physical disabilities su?ciently serious as to require institutional care (or who make heavy demands on relatives) are sometimes the victims of NAI. Health professionals, social workers and relatives should bear this possibility in mind when discovering unusual, severe or repeated bruising or fractures in vulnerable adults, even in circumstances where NAI may seem unlikely. (See also MUNCHAUSEN’S SYNDROME; PAEDOPHILIA.)... non-accidental injury (nai)
See UPPER LIMB DISORDERS.... repetitive strain injury (rsi)
Trauma Injury to the urethra is often the result of severe trauma to the pelvis – for example, in a car accident or as the result of a fall. Trauma can also result from catheter insertion (see CATHETERS) or the insertion of foreign bodies into the urethra. The signs are the inability to pass urine, and blood at the exit of the urethra. The major complication of trauma is the development of a urethral stricture (see below).
Urethritis is in?ammation of the urethra from infection.
Causes The sexually transmitted disease GONORRHOEA affects the urethra, mainly in men, and causes severe in?ammation and urethritis. Non-speci?c urethritis (NSU) is an in?ammation of the urethra caused by one of many di?erent micro-organisms including BACTERIA, YEAST and CHLAMYDIA.
Symptoms The classic signs and symptoms are a urethral discharge associated with urethral pain, particularly on micturition (passing urine), and DYSURIA.
Treatment This involves taking urethral swabs, culturing the causative organism and treating it with the appropriate antibiotic. The complications of urethritis include stricture formation.
Stricture This is an abrupt narrowing of the urethra at one or more places. Strictures can be a result of trauma or infection or a congenital abnormality from birth. Rarely, tumours can cause strictures.
Symptoms The usual presenting complaint is one of a slow urinary stream. Other symptoms include hesitancy of micturition, variable stream and terminal dribbling. Measurement of the urine ?ow rate may help in the diagnosis, but often strictures are detected during cystoscopy (see CYSTOSCOPE).
Treatment The traditional treatment was the periodic dilation of the strictures with ‘sounds’
– solid metal rods passed into the urethra. However, a more permanent solution is achieved by cutting the stricture with an endoscopic knife (optical urethrotomy). For more complicated long or multiple strictures, an open operation (urethroplasty) is required.... urethra, diseases of and injury to
Accidental puncture of the skin by a contaminated hypodermic needle. Hospital staff are most likely to be at risk. Needlestick injuries carry the risk of serious infections, such as HIV and hepatitis, and need immediate attention. The wound should be cleaned thoroughly; blood tests may be needed to determine whether infection has been transmitted.... needlestick injury
Damage to the tissues (see ligament; tendon; muscle) that surround bones and joints.... soft-tissue injury
a quick method for determining the severity of a case of serious trauma. It can be used for purposes of *triage and *clinical audit.... abbreviated injury scale
see AKI.... acute kidney injury
see hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.... birth asphyxia
(injury severity scale, ISS) a system used, particularly in *triage, for grading the severity of an injury. See also abbreviated injury scale.... injury scoring system
(OASIS) a spectrum of injuries that encompasses both third- and fourth-degree *perineal tears. Injury to the anal sphincter mechanism during childbirth may arise secondarily to direct disruption of the sphincter muscles and/or traction of the pudendal nerves. Disruption of the anal sphincter muscles is best assessed by anal ultrasound examination. This is usually performed using a high-frequency (10 MHz) endoanal probe. In selected cases with complex injury and/or suspected rectovaginal *fistula, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may also be employed.... obstetric anal sphincter injury
1. delivery of a child by *Caesarean section after the mother’s death. 2. birth of a child after the father’s death.... posthumous birth
(premature birth) birth of a baby before 37 weeks (259 days) of gestation (calculated from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period); a birth at less than 23 weeks is at present incompatible with life. Such factors as *pre-eclampsia, multiple pregnancies (e.g. twins), maternal infection, and *cervical incompetence may all result in preterm births, but in the majority of cases the cause is unknown. Conditions affecting preterm babies may include *respiratory distress syndrome, feeding difficulties, inability to maintain normal body temperature, *apnoea, infection, *necrotizing enterocolitis, and brain haemorrhages. Supportive treatment is provided in an incubator in a neonatal unit; many infants survive with no residual impairment but the shorter the gestation period, the more serious are the problems to be overcome.... preterm birth
a penetrating injury by a ski stick.... ski-stick injury
any injury related to the practice of a sport, often resulting from the overuse and stretching of muscles, tendons, and ligaments.... sports injury
(TBI) injury to the brain due to external force, such as occurs following falls, road traffic accidents, and violence. It is a major cause of death and chronic disability worldwide, especially in young males.... traumatic brain injury
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