The Face of War: Maxillofacial Patients in the Syrian Civil War.

The type of the armed conflict on the Syrian battle field acquired several types of injuries; including injuries that were caused by explosive, shrapnel and blast injuries.In the current study, the authors conducted an overview of maxillofacial patients, who mainly suffered from ballistic injuries in term of injuries, reconstruction, and management.Overall, 53 maxillofacial Syrian patients were treated. The most prominent injury was soft tissue lacerations (21/97) and in terms of hard tissue injuries, the most prominent site was the mandible (N = 19) while the ramus and the body presented the most common sub-sites of injury. Hard tissue injuries were treated either by close or open reduction to obtain primary stabilization.From the psychological aspect, most of the patients suffered from guilt for leaving the combat area, those patients were mostly males in their 20s or 30s. On the other hand, older patients suffered mainly from depression, stress, and fear of returning to their home land.To conclude, the Syrian civil war has several characteristics that defer from other combats. Thus, the management of Syrian patients has to be tailored accordingly.

Does fasting during Ramadan increase the risk of the development of sialadenitis?

BACKGROUND: Ramadan is a month within the Islamic lunar calendar when Muslims are required to fast (abstain from food and drink) during the daytime (from sunrise to sunset) for the entire month. Due to the established connection between fasting and dehydration and acute sialadenitis, the aim of this study is to determine if there is a higher frequency of sialadenitis among the Muslim population during Ramadan than during other months of the year. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study using the medical records of 120 Muslim patients admitted to the emergency room (ER) and diagnosed with acute sialadenitis over a 5-year period at the Baruch Padeh Medical Center, Poriya, and St. Vincent de Paul (French) Hospital, Nazareth, both located in Israel. The study group were Muslim patients, with the aforementioned diagnosis, admitted during Ramadan, while the control group included patients diagnosed with sialadenitis during the rest of the year. We analyzed overall admission frequency as well as descriptive and diagnostic data, including age, sex, gland involved and several blood test results. RESULTS: During the month of Ramadan, the admission of Muslims with a diagnosis of acute sialadenitis was more than double that during the other months of the year - a difference that was found to be statistically significant (p = 0.001). Additionally, we found that Ramadan sialadenitis patients had significantly higher leukocyte numbers at admission (p = 0.0085) and, importantly, a significantly higher level of dehydration (blood urea nitrogen (BUN)/creatinine ratio) than non-Ramadan sialadenitis patients (p = 0.0001). CONCLUSION: There is evidence that fasting in Ramadan may increase the risk for the development of acute sialadenitis. Our results suggest that this may be the result of dehydration.