Lightning strike is a natural phenomenon with potentially devastating effects and represents one of the leading causes of cardiac arrest and death from environmental phenomena. Almost every organ system may be impaired as lightning passes through the human body taking the shortest pathways between the contact points. In this paper, the authors report a 38-year-old man who was injured by lightning, a typical example of “side splash,” and had transient electrocardiographic changes.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Browne BJ, Gaasch WR: Electrical injuries and lightning. Emerg Med Clin North Am1992;10:211-229.
2.
Duclos PJ, Sanderson LM: An epidemiological description of lightning related deaths in the United States. Int J Epidemiol19:673-679, 1990.
3.
Cooper MA: Lightning injuries: Prognostic signs for death. Ann Emerg Med9:134-138, 1980.
4.
Epperly TD, Stewart JR: The physical effects of lightning injury. J Fam Pract29:267-272, 1989.
5.
Craig SR: When lightning strikes—pathophysiology and treatment of lightning injuries. Postgrad Med79:109-123, 1986.
6.
Amy BW, McManus WF, Goodwin CW, et al: Lightning injury with survival in five patients. JAMA253:243-245, 1985.
Taussig HB: Death from lightning and the possibility of living again. Ann Intern Med68:1345-1353, 1968.
18.
Ravitch MD, Lane R, Safar P, et al: Lightning strike. Report of a case with recovery after cardiac massage and prolonged artificial respiration. N Engl J Med264:36-38, 1961.
