Diagnosis and Management of Severe Water-Related Skin and Soft Tissue Sepsis: A Summative Review of the Literature.

Background: Skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) are common presentations in the emergency department. However, this is less common after contact with contaminated saltwater or freshwater. This review presents the diagnosis and management of water-related soft tissue sepsis in this vulnerable and difficult-to-treat subgroup of necrotizing soft tissue sepsis.

Traumatic injury to the great vessels of the chest.

This manuscript undertakes a brief focussed literature review of penetrating and blunt injury to the great vessels of the mediastinum (excluding iatrogenic vessel injury) and provides personal insights to the management of mediastinal vascular injury. It is not intended as a comprehensive or systematic review. Included are the aorta and its main branches, the superior vena-cava and its main tributaries (brachiocephalic veins) along with the less-appreciated, but equally serious, injuries to the pulmonary artery or vein and the Azygous or hemi-azygous veins.