Clinical Analysis of Dog Bite Injuries

Purpose: The dog bite injury is expected to increase as westernizing lifestyle and the number of pet raisers increase. The bite injuries may cause serious sequelae. The purpose of this study is to contributes to establish a suitable management and treatment principle for domestic situation with a clinical analysis data of the dog bite injuries. Methods: We reviewed the hospital records of 76 patients with dog bite injuries who were treated in the emergency unit or out patient department of our hospital from January 2000 to May 2006. Results: The majority of patients were children less than 10 years of age, 21 case(27.6%). Injuries occurred most often in May and 14 patients(18.4%) were bitten by the kinds of Cockerspaniel. By Lackmann's classification, 36 patients(47.4%) had Stage I injuries, 27 patients (35.5%) Stage II, 11 patients(14.5%) Stage III and 2 patients(2.6%) Stage IVa. The most frequent injury site was the head and neck area with 55 cases(72.4%). Also, 58 cases(76.3%) were received the initial treatment within 30 minutes after being bitten and the most of case except emergency operation repaired within 3 days.Conclusion: The dog bite injuries increased by more than 20% every year over the study period and it says that it may continue to increase more in the future. However, There are little report or literature for suitable management and treatment principle for domestic situation. The authors think this clinical analysis data and treatment experience can be useful for establishing a suitable treatment principle for domestic situation.

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