Download Electrocution and Electrical Injuries

CHA P TE R
6
Electrocution
and Electrical Injuries
Morgen Bernius
Jeffrey Lubin
INTRODUCTION
Although severe electrical injuries are relatively uncommon, their true incidence remains unknown.
Many electrocution victims (those who die as a result
of an electric shock) fall from a height, present with a
dysrhythmia, or are simply found dead, and in many of
these cases, the significance, and even the occurrence,
of an electric shock can be difficult to determine.
Electrical injuries tend to follow a trimodal age
distribution, each accounting for approximately 20%
to 25% of total injuries. The first peak occurs in toddlers, who generally sustain electrical injuries from
household electrical sockets and cords. The second
peak occurs in adolescents who engage in risky behavior around electrical power lines. The third population is made up of adults who work with electricity
for a living.
The National Electronic Injury Surveillance System from the Consumer Product Safety Commission
estimated that emergency departments treated over
6,000 patients for product-related electrical shocks
in 2006.1 The majority of these incidents were minor,
resulting in emergency department evaluation and
subsequent discharge. The most frequent estimates
place the annual death rate from electrical injury at
1,000 to 1,500 per year, with more than 60% occurring in adults 15 to 40 years of age. Electrocutions at
home account for more than 200 deaths per year and
are mostly associated with malfunctioning or misused consumer products.2 One in 10,000 electrical
utility workers in the United States dies from electrical injuries.3 Electrical injury was the sixth most
common cause of fatal occupational injury from
1992 to 2002.4
BASIC CONCEPTS AND
PATHOPHYSIOLOGY
Electricity consists of a flow of electrons across a
potential gradient from higher to lower concentration. Electricity requires a complete path (circuit)
to create continuous flow and a potential difference (measured in volts [V]) to drive the electrons
through the circuit. The volume of electrons flowing
along this gradient is the current (measured in amperes [A]). Resistance is the impedance to flow of
the electrons (measured in ohms [Ω]).
In direct current (DC), electrons flow constantly
in one direction across the voltage potential. Batteries
are a common source of DC current, and high-voltage
DC current is commonly used as a means for the bulk
transmission of electrical power. Alternating current (AC) results when the direction of electron flow
changes rapidly in a cyclic fashion. In the United
States, standard household current is AC flowing at
60 cycles per second (Hz) and 110 V. In much of the
rest of the world the standard household current is
220 to 240 V flowing at 50 Hz.
Six factors determine the outcome of human contact with electrical current: voltage, type of current,
amount of current, resistance, pathway of the current,
and duration of contact.5 In many cases, the magnitude
of only a few of these factors is known.
Low voltage is arbitrarily defined at less than
1,000 volts. As a general rule, high voltage is associated with greater morbidity and mortality, although
fatal injury can occur with low voltage as well.
AC exposure to the same voltage is considered to
be about three times more dangerous than exposure to
the same voltage of DC current. The differences in the
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two types of current have practical significance only
at low voltages; at high voltages both currents have
similar effects. Although AC current is more likely
to produce explosive exit wounds, DC current tends
to produce discrete exit wounds. AC current is also
more likely to cause muscular tetany than DC current.
However, high-voltage contacts to both AC and DC
current can produce a single violent skeletal muscle
contraction, leading to the person appearing to “be
thrown” from a voltage source.
The physical effects of different amounts of current vary (Table 6.1). A narrow range exists between
the threshold of perception of current (0.2 to 0.4 mA)
and the “let-go current” (6 to 9 mA).7 The let-go current is the level above which muscular tetany prevents
release of the current source. When AC current flows
though the arm, even at the standard household frequency of 50 to 60Hz, flexor tetany of the fingers and
forearm can overpower the extensors. If the hand and
fingers are properly positioned, the hand will grasp
the conductor tighter, leading to extended contact to
the power source.8 However, current flow through the
trunk and legs may cause opisthotonic postures and
leg movements if the person has not grasped the contact tightly. Thoracic tetany is also possible and can
occur at levels just above the let-go current, resulting
in respiratory arrest. Ventricular fibrillation (VF) usually occurs at 60 to 120 mA.
TABLE 6.1
Effects of Exposure to Varying Amounts
of AC Current9
Current
Probable Effect
1 mA
Tingling sensation; almost not
perceptible
Let-go current for an average child
Let-go current for an average
woman
Let-go current for an average man
Maximum current a person can
grasp and let go
Tetany of skeletal muscles
Paralysis of respiratory muscles;
respiratory arrest
Threshold for VF
Asystole
Common household circuit
breakers
Maximal intensity of household
current (United States)
3–5 mA
6–8 mA
7–9 mA
16mA
16–20 mA
20–50 mA
50–100 mA
⬎2 A
15–30 A
240A
As electrical current is conducted through a
material, any resistance to that flow results in dissipation of energy and heat. This direct heating is
the etiology of most tissue damage from electricity.
The amount of heat produced during the flow of current can be predicted using Joule’s First Law
Q ⫽ I2Rt
where Q is the amount of heat generated, I is the current flowing through a conductor, R is the amount of
electrical resistance, and t is the time of exposure. Using
Ohm’s Law (I ⫽ V/R), the relationship between voltage
and heat generation can be derived as
Q ⫽ V2t/R
If resistance and other factors remain constant, the
heat from current flow through tissue increases with
the duration of current flow, the square of the current
intensity, and the square of the voltage differential.
Electricity requires a complete circuit for continuous flow. The path of the flow of electricity determines the tissues at risk, the type of injury, and
the degree of conversion of electrical energy to heat.
Current passing through the heart or thorax can cause
arrhythmias and direct myocardial damage, whereas
cerebral current can cause respiratory arrest, seizures,
and paralysis.
Nerves, blood vessels, mucous membranes, and
muscle tend to have the least resistance because of
their high concentration of electrolytes10 (Table 6.2).
The tissues that have the highest resistance to electricity (skin, bone, and fat) tend to increase in temperature and coagulate. Bone, which has a very
high resistance to electrical current, tends to generate a significant amount of heat and often causes
damage to nearby muscles. Skin can have a wide
range of resistance to electricity, with dry skin having a higher resistance than moist skin. As a result,
a patient with dry skin may have extensive superficial tissue damage but more limited conduction of
wpotentially harmful current to deeper structures.
Electrocution causes injury in several ways. The
conversion of electrical energy to thermal energy can
result in massive external and internal burns. The
direct effect of current on body tissues can lead to
asystole, VF, or apnea. In addition, electroporation,
defined as the creation of pores in cell membranes
by means of electrical current, can be caused by
electrical charges insufficient to produce thermal
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TABLE 6.2
Typical Resistance to Flow of Electricity Through
Various Areas of The Body11
Area of body
Resistance (⍀/cm2)
Mucous membranes
Most skin
Soaked skin (e.g., while
bathing)
Diaphoretic skin
Sole of foot
Heavily calloused palm
10
300–40,000
1,200–1,500
2,500
100,000–200,000
1,000,000–2,000,000
damage but strong enough to cause protein configuration changes that threaten cell wall integrity and
cellular function.12,13 Finally, muscle contractions or
falling can result from blunt mechanical injury from
exposure to high voltage.
EVALUATION
AND TREATMENT
Scene Safety
The scene of an electrical injury may present many
hazards for rescue personnel, so extra consideration
must be taken to ensure scene safety. High-voltage
power lines are almost never insulated but may appear
insulated from atmospheric contaminants deposited on
the lines over time. A rescuer standing on the ground
touching any part of a vehicle that is in contact with
a power line is likely to be killed or seriously injured.
In fact, electrocution can occur from ground current
simply by walking too close to a downed power line.
A common error is establishing a safety perimeter that
is too small.14 The recommended isolation distance is
one full span between the adjacent poles or towers in
all directions from a break in the wire or from the point
of contact with the ground. At a minimum, personnel
should stay at least 3 to 9 m (10 to 30 ft) from downed
power lines until the utility company unequivocally
confirms that power to the lines is off.15
Electrical shock is not prevented by the rescuer
wearing rubber gloves and boots unless these are specifically designed for the voltage present. The gloves must
also have been recently tested for insulation integrity. A
microscopic hole in a glove can result in an explosive
injury to the hand inside it because thousands of volts
from the circuit concentrate there to enter the glove.16
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SECTION A
Ideally, it is best to turn off the source of electricity before contact with the victim. Some texts suggest using a nonconductive material, such as a broom
handle, to attempt to remove a victim from electrical
contact. This should be done only with extreme caution because when voltages are above approximately
600 V, dry wood and other materials may conduct
significant amounts of electric current, presenting
danger to the rescuer.
There are other hazards present at scenes of
downed power lines. When voltage is reapplied to
downed lines as circuit breakers reset, the lines may
physically jump with great force. Also, although the
metal cables that support telephone and power poles
are normally grounded, they may become energized
if they break or disconnect from an attachment and
make contact with a nearby power line.
Management
The most common causes of death from electrical injury are cardiac arrhythmia and respiratory arrest. AC
current is more likely to cause VF, whereas DC is more
likely to cause asystole. Rescue breathing should be
instituted as soon as possible for lineworkers in respiratory arrest, even while still on utility power poles.
As soon as the victim is lowered to the ground, chest
compressions should be initiated if the patient is in
cardiac as well as respiratory arrest.
Cardiac monitoring is essential in patients who
have suffered significant electrical injuries. Almost
50% of patients exhibit electrocardiographic changes
or rhythm disturbances after significant electrical injury. The most common electrocardiographic alterations are sinus tachycardia and nonspecific ST-T-wave
changes, which usually revert with time. Because
most dysrhythmias are transient, therapeutic interventions are rarely needed. Sometimes an injury pattern
mimicking infarction may be seen on the ECG; such
patterns are generally due to direct myocardial injury
and not coronary thrombosis.17 The difficulty is identifying the existence of new myocardial damage and
determining its physiological significance.18
Once cardiac dysrhythmias and respiratory arrest
are addressed, patients with electrical injury should
be initially evaluated as trauma patients, treating any
blunt injuries and caring for burns.
Because many victims are young and have no prior cardiovascular disease, resuscitation efforts should
be aggressive. It is often not possible to predict the
outcome of attempted resuscitation based on age
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and initial rhythm in electric shock-induced cardiac
arrest.19 Normal BLS or ALS resuscitation protocols
should be used, keeping in mind any necessary adjustments for rescuer safety and patient access.
In-line immobilization of the spine, IV access, cardiac monitoring, and measurement of oxygen saturation
should be started after the primary survey is completed. Rescuers should assume that victims of electrical
trauma have multiple traumatic injuries. A large percentage of high-voltage electrical trauma patients have
either fallen from a height or been thrown by the force
of the electric current. Falls, being thrown from the
electrical source by an intense muscular contraction, or
blast effect from explosive forces that may occur with
electric flashes can cause significant secondary blunt
trauma. In addition, fractures and joint dislocations can
be caused by forceful muscle contractions.20
The primary electrical injury is the burn. There are
two general patterns: surface burns and internal current flow. Appropriate burn care should be instituted
for external burns. Constricting rings and other jewelry should be removed. Patients with high-tension
burns should be taken to a trauma center. Because
visible cutaneous damage generally underestimates
internal damage, fluid requirements may be exceed
prediction using standard thermal burn injury formulae such as the Parkland formula. Most sources advise
that an initial fluid volume of 20 to 40 ml/kg over the
first hour is appropriate for most patients with significant electrical injuries.15 Further fluid administration
will be guided by continued clinical and hemodynamic
assessment.
strikes are not fatal.26–29 Because people tend to seek
shelter from lightning storms together, 30% of lightning strikes involve more than one patient.22
There are five basic mechanisms of injury that
occur with lightning strikes23,24,28:
1. Direct strike: A direct strike is more likely to hit
a person who is in the open and unable to find
shelter. This type of lightning strike is usually
fatal.28
2. Splash injury: This occurs when lightning strikes
an object (such as a tree or building) or another
person, and the current “splashes” to a victim
standing nearby. Current can also splash to a victim indoors via plumbing or telephone wires.23
3. Contact injury: This occurs when the victim is
in physical contact with an object or a person
directly struck or splashed by lightning.
4. Step voltage/ground current injury: When lightning hits the ground, the current spreads outward
in a radial pattern. Because the human body offers less resistance to electrical current than does
the ground, the current will preferentially travel
through the body (e.g., up one leg and down the
other) between the body’s two points of ground
contact.
5. Blunt trauma: Victims of lightning strike may be
thrown by the concussive forces of the shockwave created by the lightning. A lightning strike
can also cause significant opisthotonic muscle
contractions, which may lead to fractures or
other trauma.
Patient Assessment
LIGHTNING INJURY
Background and Pathophysiology
Lightning is a unidirectional cloud-to-ground current resulting from static charges that develop when
a cold high-pressure front moves over a warm and
moist low-pressure area.21–23 It is neither a direct nor
an alternating form of current.23,24 Although lightning
can release greater than one million volts of energy,
generate currents greater than 200,000 A, and reach
temperatures as high as 50,000° F, the actual amount
of energy delivered may be less than that typical of
high-voltage injuries because its duration is as short
as a few milliseconds.9,21,25
In the United States, lightning kills approximately
80 to 90 people per year, although 70% of lightning
Although lightning strikes may cause multisystem
injuries, the most common cause of death is immediate cardiorespiratory arrest.23,24,28,30,31 Unlike the
typical trauma patient, however, lightning victims
have significant resuscitation potential, which gives
rise to the EMS lightning-triage mantra, “resuscitate
the dead.” The cardiac effects of lightning injury can
include anything from nonfatal arrhythmias (including bradycardia, tachycardia, premature ventricular contractions, ventricular tachycardia, and atrial
fibrillation),23 to myocardial depolarization and asystole.29,30,31 Lightning may also cause paralysis of the
medullary respiratory center, leading to prolonged
respiratory arrest.28 With early and sustained respiratory support by EMS providers, many patients have
excellent prognoses.28
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Although lightning produces significant heat and
voltage, severe burns are uncommon because of the
short duration of exposure.23,24,28,32 Compared with
high-voltage electrical injuries, burn care and aggressive volume resuscitation for deep tissue injury
are less important considerations. Full-thickness entry and exit burns are occasionally present, but deep
burns and tissue damage are less common than in
typical high voltage electrical injury.24,28 In many victims struck during rain, the low resistance of wet skin
results in a “flashover” effect, decreasing the current
transit through the body, and thus decreasing the risk
of severe internal injury.23,24 Flashover occurs when
the lightning strikes a victim, and the current flashes
over the outside of the body along the wet skin surface, vaporizing the moisture and causing superficial
burns—and often blasting shoes and clothing off
the victim’s body.24 Linear and punctate burns may
be seen along the paths of sweat or rainwater accumulation. Full-thickness burns may occur at sites
of contact with metal objects, such as jewelry.24
Lichtenberg figures, or feathering burns, are pathognomonic of lightning injury, but are not true burns.23,25
They are thought to be the result of electron showers
that cause extravasation of red blood cells into the
superficial skin layers along the current lines of the
flashover.23,25,28,31
Potential neurological effects of lightning injury
include loss of consciousness, confusion, memory
loss, seizures, persistent headaches, paralysis, mood
disorders, chronic pain syndromes, cerebellar dysfunction, and peripheral neuropathies.22,23,28 Hearing
loss may result from sensorineural damage or from
direct otologic injury to the tympanic membrane or
middle ear.24 Keraunoparalysis, or “lightning paraplegia,” is an immediate effect of lightning injury and
consists of paralysis of the limbs with pallor, cool
temperature, and absent pulses.32,34 It is not actually
a neurologic phenomenon, but rather the result of severe arterial vasospasm from catecholamine release.
It usually resolves within hours, but it can create a
difficult and misleading initial patient assessment.
Other considerations in the lightning victim include
blunt trauma, either from being thrown or from significant muscle contractions. The lightning victim may
also have been struck by falling tree limbs or building
debris. The appropriate precautions, including proper
spinal immobilization, must be observed. Because
deep tissue damage is less common in lightning strike
victims than in victims of high-voltage electrical injury, myoglobinuria and acute renal failure is seen less
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SECTION A
frequently. However, acute renal failure has been reported in 3% to 15% of victims of major lightning strikes,
so appropriate fluid resuscitation should be initiated in
the prehospital setting.24
Critical Actions
The first priority in responding to a lightning strike
is scene safety. Contrary to popular myth, lightning
can—and often does—strike the same place twice.
Rescuers should care for lightning strike victim using standard BLS and ALS principles but should amend
multicasualty triage priorities, providing initial care to
the apparently dead victims first. Victims who do not
suffer immediate cardiac or respiratory arrest are unlikely to die from their injuries.23 Bystander CPR should
be strongly encouraged. Dilated or nonreactive pupils
do not indicate brain death in the lightning strike victims and should not be used to prognosticate.28 Patients
should receive cardiac and pulse oximetry monitoring
during transport, and trauma precautions (including
spinal immobilization) must be observed. Because the
extent of injury may not be readily apparent based on
external signs, all lightning strike patients require transport for hospital evaluation. Lightning strike victims
with obvious injuries (such as long bone fractures, external burns, respiratory compromise, cardiac arrhythmias, hypotension, or altered mental status) should be
transported to a trauma or burn center for evaluation.
Protocols
Training of prehospital providers should emphasize
the importance of scene safety. Providers must understand the potential hazards of an electrical injury
scene as well as the common misconceptions about
lightning behavior.
The most immediate concern in a high-voltage
electrical injury or lightning strike incident is the victim’s cardiac and respiratory status. The typical advanced cardiac life support (ACLS) algorithms should
be applied in such patients and, because of their significant resuscitation potential, aggressive and prolonged resuscitation efforts should be the standard.
In multicasualty scenarios, the triage priorities should
be reversed to resuscitate the dead first. All patients
should receive cardiac monitoring because of the
potential for cardiac arrhythmias.
Patients should be treated using spinal immobilization precautions—even with no history of
falling—because of the potential for fractures from
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violent opisthotonic muscle contractions caused by
the electrical injury. Selective spinal immobilization protocols may be applied to conscious patients
with no history of loss of consciousness, altered
mental status, distracting injuries, or alcohol or substance use.
IV access should be established and aggressive
volume resuscitation implemented in patients with
high-voltage injuries because of the likelihood of
deep tissue destruction. Providers must understand
that surface burns usually do not indicate the degree
of internal injury.
All victims of high voltage electrical injury or
lightning strike should be transported for hospital
evaluation. Transport to the closest trauma or burn
center is appropriate for those victims with evidence
of obvious injury.
C L I NI C A L VI G N E T T E S
Case 1
Paramedics are dispatched for a 13-year-old male
who climbed up a 30-foot fence to get a basketball
and grabbed an active power line while on the fence.
He is found lying next to the fence, pulseless and apneic. There is a distinct burn on the right palm and
explosive-appearing burns on both feet. His initial
heart rhythm is asystole.
Discussion
The energy involved in this case is likely more than
100,000 V of DC current. Scene safety is the top priority for the responding agencies. However, because
there is not actually a power line down, this is likely
to be a safe scene. Cervical spine precautions must be
taken because of concerns of spinal trauma from the
fall or possibly from tetanic muscle contractions. Vigorous attempts at resuscitation should be performed
for this young, otherwise healthy, patient. This would
include high-quality CPR, airway management, and
appropriate pediatric ALS medications. IV crystalloids should be started at approximately 20 to 40
ml/kg per hour. The patient should ideally be transported to a trauma center for further treatment.
Case 2
You are called to the scene of a lightning strike on
a golf course with four male victims in their sixties.
One victim is in cardiorespiratory arrest. His two
friends, who also report being struck, have been
performing CPR. The fourth, who has an extensive
cardiac history, is sitting nearby, diaphoretic and
complaining of chest pain. Lightning is visible on
the horizon, and the rain is just starting to fall as
paramedics arrive on the scene.
Discussion
Although there are two high-acuity patients in this
scenario, scene safety must remain the first priority. Evacuation of the patients to the ambulances for
further evaluation and treatment should be the first
action taken.
The patient with the cardiac history experiencing active chest pain will require urgent assessment
and treatment, but unlike typical multicasualty trauma triage scenarios, the patient in cardiac arrest
should be tended to first, with rhythm evaluation
for potential defibrillation and appropriate airway
management. Appropriate spinal immobilization
precautions should be observed.
The man with chest pain should be treated
next, according to usual BLS and ALS protocols.
Although the third and fourth victims are not experiencing symptoms debilitating enough to prevent
them from performing CPR, they also should be
transported for hospital evaluation even without
any specific complaints.
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