A needful, unique, and in-place evaluation of the injuries in earthquake victims with computed tomography, in catastrophic disasters! The 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes: part I.

OBJECTIVE

This study was carried out to evaluate the injuries in pediatric earthquake victims due to the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes with computed tomography and determine the anatomotopographic distribution of injuries.

METHODS

The material of this retrospective study consisted of the computed tomography findings of 257 pediatric cases injured in the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes, and those were divided into subgroups based on their age group, i.e., 0-4, 5-9, 10-14, and 15-18 years, and the type of injury, i.e., head, maxillofacial, thoracic, abdominal, pelvic, and spinal injuries.

RESULTS

Earthquake-related injuries had been detected in 102 (39.6%) patients. Of the 29 patients with multiple injuries, 17, 10, and 2 had injuries in two, three, and four topographic regions, respectively. The most common injury was a head injury, which was detected in 48 (18.7%) cases, followed by thoracic injury, spinal injury, pelvic fracture, abdominal injury, and maxillofacial fracture, which were detected in 40 (15.6%), 22 (8.5%), 19 (7.4%), 10 (3.9%), and 6 (2.3%) patients, respectively. The cranial bone fractures and intracranial injuries were significantly more frequent in the 0-4 years age group compared with other age groups (p=0.028 and p=0.024, respectively). The rib fractures with spinal and pleural injuries were significantly more common in the 15-18 years age group compared with others (p=0.016, p=0.004, and p=0.002, respectively).

CONCLUSION

The head injury was the most common earthquake-related injury in pediatric cases. Herein, it was more common in younger children compared with other age groups, whereas rib, spine, and pleural injuries were more common in older children.