Nature of shark-related injuries treated at The Queen’s Medical Center
| n=12 | |
| Single site | 7 |
| Multiple sites | 5 |
| Two sites | 4 |
| Three sites | 1 |
| Most severe level of injury per patient | |
| Abrasion/contusion | 0 |
| Skin or soft tissue injury | 1 |
| Tendon/muscle/bone injury | 8 |
| Major vascular injury, includes isolated vascular injuries and amputations | 3 |
| Upper limb injuries, most proximal extent | 8 |
| Hand | 2 |
| Forearm | 3 |
| Elbow | 1 |
| Upper arm | 0 |
| Shoulder | 2 |
| Lower limb injuries, most proximal extent | 9 |
| Thigh | 5 |
| Lower leg | 4 |
| Foot | 0 |
| Abdomen | 1 |
| Vascular injury* | |
| Ulnar artery† | 1 |
| Anterior tibial artery‡ | 1 |
| Amputation/disarticulation | |
| Below the knee† | 2 |
| Above the knee | 1 |
| Nerve injury* | |
| Ulnar nerve | 2 |
| Radial nerve | 2 |
| Median nerve | 1 |
| Lateral antebrachial cutaneous nerve | 1 |
| Peroneal nerve | 1 |
| Shark-induced trauma level, n (%) | |
| Level 5 | 1 (8.3) |
| Level 4 | 3 (25) |
| Level 3 | 4 (33) |
| Level 2 | 4 (33) |
| Level 1 | 0 (0) |
*Excluding traumatic and secondary amputation.
†One patient had a traumatic BKA and ulnar artery injury (see figure 3).
‡One patient had ipsilateral anterior and posterior tibial artery injuries. Revascularization was unsuccessful and necessitated secondary BKA. The contralateral leg had an anterior tibial artery injury (see figure 2).
BKA, below knee amputation.