Evaluation of musculoskeletal injuries after the 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquake: A local hospital experience.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate musculoskeletal injuries, clinical follow-ups and treatments of trauma patients admitted to our hospital after the 2023 Kahramanmaras earthquake. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between February 6th, 2023 and February 16th, 2023, a total of 957 trauma patients (452 males, 505 females; mean age: 36.2±19.9 years; range, 0 to 97 years) who were affected by the earthquake were retrospectively analyzed. Age, sex, presence of orthopedic consultation, diagnosis of open/closed fracture, diagnosis of dislocation, presence and classification of soft tissue injury, additional system injury, preoperative and postoperative neurovascular examination status, presence of compartment syndrome, conservative/surgical applications, operation side, fasciotomy surgery and level, amputation surgery and level, length of stay in the hospital and intensive care unit (ICU), the Mangled Extremity Severity Score (MESS) score were collected. RESULTS: A total of 811 of the survivors were Turkish and 146 were Syrians. Of 957 earthquake victims, 40% had soft tissue injuries, 19% had closed fractures, 8.9% had other system injuries, 7.7% had crush injuries, 4.1% had nerve injuries, 2.1% had compartment syndrome, 2.1% had vascular injury, 1.8% had dislocation, and 1.7% had open fracture. Surgical or conservative treatments were applied to 574 patients with musculoskeletal injuries. Conservative treatment was applied to 322 of 574 patients and surgical procedure was applied to 252 patients. CONCLUSION: The highest patient density is experienced within the first 24 h after a devastating earthquake. The most common injuries due to high-energy trauma are isolated soft tissue injuries and fractures. The definition of the demographic characteristics and clinical outcomes of earthquake patients is critical to the development of preparedness, response, and recovery policies for future disasters..

Tumorous conditions of the pediatric hand and wrist: Ten-year experience of a single center.

OBJECTIVES: This study aims to evaluate the distribution and prevalence of pediatric hand tumors and tumor-like lesions according to age and gender. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively examined the details of hospital records of 646 patients who were operated for hand mass between January 2009 and January 2019 and whose pathological diagnosis was established in the same hospital. A total of 54 patients (18 males, 36 females; mean age 12.07 years; range, 3 month to 17 years) under 18 years of age who had been operated for the wrist or hand mass were included in the study. RESULTS: Out of 54 tumors, 53 were benign (98%) and one was malignant (2%). There were 42 soft tissue tumors (78%) and 12 bone tumors (22%). The most common soft tissue mass was ganglion cyst (n=12). Six out of 12 ganglion cysts were on the dorsal side of hand or wrist and six were on the volar side. The distribution of the tumors according to gender was not statistically significant (p=0.73). We had two recurrences: one patient with giant cell tumor of the tendon sheath and one with palmar fibromatosis. CONCLUSION: Pediatric hand/wrist masses are mostly benign tumorous conditions. The location of the pathologies may be different from the adults. Diagnosis of the tumor should be established carefully clinically and radiologically while malignant tumors should be kept in mind by both pediatricians and orthopedic surgeons.