What is blast lung?

What is blast lung?

Blast lung is characterized by the clinical triad of apnea, bradycardia, and hypotension. Pulmonary injuries vary from scattered petechae to confluent hemorrhages. Blast lung should be suspected for anyone with dyspnea, cough, hemoptysis, or chest pain following blast exposure.

Can you survive blast lung?

Physical examination of the lungs was normal. Most of the patients demonstrated normal lung function tests and complete resolution of the chest radiograph findings. Conclusion: Most patients who survive lung blast injury will regain good lung function within a year.

What is a pulmonary blast injury?

“Blast lung” is a clinical diagnosis and is characterized as respiratory difficulty and hypoxia without obvious external injury to the chest. It may be complicated by pneumothoraces and air emboli and may be associated with multiple other injuries.

What is a blast injury?

Blast injuries result from explosions that have the capability to cause multisystem, life-threatening injuries in single or multiple victims simultaneously. These types of events present complex triage, diagnostic, and management challenges for the health care provider.

How do you survive a blast wave?

Go inside a strong building, move toward its center, and shelter away from windows, doors, and exterior walls to best protect yourself. Avoid radioactive fallout that arrives minutes later by staying indoors, ideally belowground in a basement.

Can lungs explode?

Lungs: There is a risk of pneumothorax, arterial gas embolism, and mediastinal and subcutaneous emphysema during ascent, which are commonly called burst lung or lung overpressure injury by divers. To equalise the lungs, all that is necessary is not to hold the breath during ascent.

What kind of blast injury is due to toxic materials absorbed by the body?

Quaternary blast injuries: Quaternary blast injury is everything else not caused by primary, secondary or tertiary mechanisms. Examples include burns, angina, crush injuries, asthma or COPD exacerbations due to dust, smoke or toxic fumes.

How do you treat blast injuries?

Tertiary blast injuries of the extremity may result in traumatic amputations, fractures, and severe soft-tissue injuries. Quaternary injuries most often are burns. Following treatment and stabilization of immediate life-threatening conditions, all patients are given antibiotic and tetanus prophylaxis.

How does blast lung happen?

Primary blast lung injury occurs when an explosive shock wave passes through the thorax and transits through tissues of varying densities. It requires close proximity to an explosion and presents quick with respiratory distress in survivors.

How do you treat a blast injury?

Is there a cure for blast lung injury?

Background: Blast lung injury (BLI) is a major cause of morbidity after terrorist bomb attacks (TBAs) and is seen with increasing frequency worldwide. Yet, many surgeons and intensivists have little experience treating BLI. Jerusalem sustained 31 TBAs since 1983, resulting in a local expertise in treating BLI.

What are the symptoms of blast lung injury?

Primary blast lung injury occurs when a blast wave injures the lung parenchyma and vasculature and presents as acute dyspnea, cough, and hypoxemia with airspace disease on chest imaging.[link.springer.com]

What happens to the lungs in an explosion?

Blast lung is one of the consequences suffered from increased air pressure directed at tissue following an explosion. While the lungs are most prone to primary blast injury [1], other gas-containing sites such as the bowels and ears are also susceptible [2] [3].

Which is the most common primary blast injury?

It is the most common fatal primary blast injury among initial survivors. Signs of blast lung are usually present at the time of initial evaluation, but they have been reported as late as 48 hours after the explosion. Blast lung is characterized by the clinical triad of apnea, bradycardia, and hypotension.