PERSONAL WATERCRAFT CRASH INJURIES - AN EMERGING PROBLEM

Background: The increased popularity of personal watercraft (PWC) has resulted in an increase in PWC-related injuries, In an effort to bette r understand the problem, a retrospective review of 37 victims of such injuries seen at a Level I trauma center and fatalities examined by t he medical examiner were analyzed. Results: Fourteen percent of the vi ctims were passengers, two of whom were struck from behind, resulting in severe injuries, Twelve patients died of their injuries, For six vi ctims, the cause of death was drowning; only one of these victims was wearing a personal notation device, Two patients sustained transected aortas, 20% had brain injuries, 20% had spinal fractures, and 48% had skeletal and skull fractures, Abdominal organ injuries were present in only 13.5% of the victims, but they were significant, with liver, spl een, and kidney lacerations and aortic and renal artery injuries. Conc lusion: In this population of victims of PWC crashes meeting preestabl ished trauma criteria or on-scene deaths, injuries were significant, M any of the drowning deaths may have been prevented with the use of per sonal notation devices, The potential for serious intra-abdominal inju ry must be recognized and dealt with appropriately.