Unusual injuries of the hand: Impalement injuries

Abstract

Impalement injuries are relatively rare. The most common anatomical site of involvement is the extremities. Impalement injuries are defined as penetrating injuries where a traumatic agent remains impaled in the human body. Foreign body penetration of the hand and wrist is presented as emergency cases. Due to the rarity of such finial impalement injuries presenting to the emergency, the management of this clinical condition remains controversial. Here, we report two cases of impalement injuries of the hand and their successful management. The patients even though been injured by such an object had minimum injuries, the chances of which are quite low. Case 1: A 27-year-old female presented with a history of accidental slipping in the staircase and sustained penetrating injury over the right hand by iron fence finial 5 h before presentation. Case 2: A 42-year-old male presented with a history of slipping while trying to cross a fence. He sustained penetrating injury over his left hand by iron fence finial 7 h before presentation.

Keywords

• finial injuries
• hand injuries
• impalement injuries