Injuries caused by fragmenting rifle ammunition

摘要

Introduction: Although penetrating injuries are encountered on a regular basis in high volume trauma centres, most civilian trauma teams will be unfamiliar with the treatment of patients with injuries caused by fragmenting ammunition. The terrorist attacks in Norway on July 22, 2011 included a shooting spree causing 69 deaths and 60 injured. One of the weapons used was a semi-automatic rifle, calibre 5.56 mm, with soft tip, short stop ammunition. The aim of the present study was to describe the characteristic injury patterns and lessons learned from the treatment of multiple patients admitted at the regional trauma centre with injuries from this type of ammunition.