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. 2011 Jan;4(1):20-2.
doi: 10.4103/0974-2700.76827.

Vascular injuries after bear attacks: Incidence, surgical challenges and outcome

Mohd Lateef Wani  1 , Abdul Gani Ahangar, Gh Nabi Lone, Reyaz Ahmad Lone, Hakeem Zubair Ashraf, Abdul Majeed Dar, M A Bhat, Shyam Singh, Akram Hussain Bijli, Ifat Irshad
Affiliations

Vascular injuries after bear attacks: Incidence, surgical challenges and outcome

Mohd Lateef Wani et al. J Emerg Trauma Shock. 2011 Jan.

Abstract

Background: Bear mauling is rarely reported in medical literature due to its rare occurrence. Present study was undertaken to describe the pattern and management of bear maul vascular injuries in Kashmir.

Patients and methods: Study of patients with bear maul vascular injury from 1(st) Jan 2004 to 31(st) Dec. 2008. Fifteen patients with bear maul vascular injury were studied. All patients of bear maul without vascular injury were excluded from the study.

Results: Most of the patients were treated by reverse saphenous vein graft or end to end anastomosis. Most common complication was wound infection (20%) followed by graft occlusion (13.33%). There was no operative death.

Conclusion: Bear attacks are very common in Kashmir. Vascular injury due to bear maul needs prompt resuscitation and revascularization. Results are very good provided timely intervention for revascularization is done.

Keywords: Bear maul; saphenous vein; vascular injury.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared

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