Publications by authors named "W Bekker"
Article Synopsis
- This paper reviews a decade of data on rectal injuries at Grey's Hospital, aiming to improve management strategies for these injuries in civilian settings.
- A total of 88 patients with rectal trauma were analyzed, with a majority being young males and injuries predominantly resulting from penetrating mechanisms like gunshot wounds.
- The study highlights that rectal trauma leads to significant complications, including urogenital and gastrointestinal morbidity, underscoring the need for better management practices despite the reliance on techniques like proximal diversion and primary repairs.
Background: This multicenter study examines the contemporary management of penetrating carotid artery injury (PCAI) to identify trends in management, outcomes, and to determine prognostic factors for stroke and death.
Methods: Data from three large urban trauma centers in South Africa were retrospectively reviewed for patients who presented with PCAI from 2012 to 2020.
Results: Of 149 identified patients, 137 actively managed patients were included.
A decade long overview of damage control laparotomy for abdominal gunshot wounds.
Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg
October 2024
Purpose: Over the last three decades, damage control laparotomy (DCL) has become important in the management of abdominal gunshot wounds (GSW). This paper reviews the experience of a single institution over a decade with the use of DCL for GSW of the abdomen.
Methods: Longitudinal data (2013-2022) was collected from the Hybrid Electronic Medical Registry database to identify all patients with an abdominal GSW over the study period.
One of the biggest challenges in utilizing non-commercial forest biomass is its widely distributed nature. The best solution to the biomass problem, to avoid expensive and carbon-intensive processing (chipping) and transportation costs, is to process it onsite. However, conventional burn piles have destructive impacts on forest soil and provide no benefits other than fuel reduction.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: Trauma is a leading cause of death worldwide and in South Africa. We aimed to quantify the in-hospital trauma mortality rate in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa.
Background: The in-hospital trauma mortality rate in South Africa remains unknown, and it is unclear whether deficits in hospital care are contributing to the high level of trauma-related mortality.