Further documentation of remote effects of electrical injuries, with comments on the place of neuropsychological testing and functional scanning

Abstract

It is not always recognized that morbidity from electrical injury is not confined to effects in the pathway of current flow. Indeed a major element of the disability suffered by victims occur from effects remote to the line of current passage. Recent papers have rightly drawn further attention to this, and it is an active area of controversy and research. This paper documents the authors experience in this area and confirms the recognizable elements of remote injuries which are seen to be generally psychological in nature. The question of mechanisms of causation of these disabilities is raised. This paper then presents summary results of a collation of neuropsychological investigations and functional cerebral scanning in an attempt to correlate the two. It is concluded that it is possible to overlook the remote effects of electrical injury to the detriment of victims.