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Biomedical subjects

M L Fackler

Publications and source records attributed to M L Fackler.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1998

Civilian gunshot wounds and ballistics: dispelling the myths.

This review outlines the foundations of ballistics and provides guidelines for the emergency care of those wounded by gunfire. It also describes the causes of recently increasing misinformation that is confusing and misleading trauma surgeons. Among these causes are an increasing firearm illiteracy, failure of the editorial and peer review in the trauma surgery literature to adequately evaluate wound ballistics papers, and widespread distortions promulgated by gun prohibitionist advocates. Solving these problems requires strict adherence to fundamental scientific method and the basic precepts of academic honesty and scholarly integrity.

Attitude to Health↗
PubMed1996

Gunshot wound review.

There is no serious argument about the wounding potential of various kinds of penetrating projectiles. The laws of physics in concert with modern bullet testing have clarified and quantified the mechanisms by which bullets disrupt tissue. Despite this scientific background, much misinformation persists in the wound-ballistics literature. The article reviews the interaction of penetrating projectiles with human tissue. Understanding of wound allows the emergency physician to become a more informed reader of its literature, as well as a more reliable provider of care to the wounded patient.

Biophysical Phenomena↗
PubMed1993

Gunshot injuries in Mobile County, Alabama: 1985-1987.

Although much information about firearm fatalities has been published, few articles have characterized all types of gunshot victims, the weapons used, and the injuries sustained in a well-defined geopolitical unit. This study of 597 persons sustaining gunshot injuries serious enough to cause death or hospitalization in Mobile County Alabama during 1985-1987, addresses that deficit. The overall rate of these 597 seriously gunshot-injured victims was 53/100,000 population per annum. Of the 597 victims, 215 died, resulting in a rate of 18.9 per 100,000 population per annum. Demographic characteristics of the homicide victims, predominantly young black men, and the suicide victims, predominantly middle-aged and elderly white men, are similar to those reported from other parts of the country. Assault victims accounted for the largest (316) number of victims: again, young black men also constituted the largest demographic group among assault victims. Handguns accounted for 71% of the weapons used. No assault type weapons were employed. Head, neck, and chest wounds led with the greatest fatality rates. Information about nonfatally wounded victims, particularly data about the weapons, proved difficult to obtain. This was one of the many problems encountered in this type of project and, consequently, is discussed at some length. Additional population-based studies using prospective methods and a variety of investigators, including persons knowledgeable of firearms, are needed.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

Hand and forearm injuries from penetrating projectiles.

Compared with other surgical literature published after the Vietnam and Persian Gulf wars, hand surgery literature has been relatively void of information regarding projectile injury. Wound ballistics research of the past 10 years has shown that objective evaluation of tissue disruption is the only valid guide to treatment. The hand's anatomy requires hand surgeons to be more careful in tissue excision. Hand surgeons, therefore, do not have the luxury of "cutting till it bleeds." The purpose of this article is to support the methods that hand surgeons have traditionally used and to caution the inexperienced surgeon who may be inclined to excise uninjured tissue.

Animals↗
PubMed1991

Theodor Kocher and the Scientific Foundation of Wound Ballistics.

The systemic and rational approach used by Kocher, coupled with his interest in research of wound ballistics for more than 40 years, resulted in a clear elucidation of the principles that form the basic scientific foundation of modern wound ballistics. The validity of his work has been proved repeatedly on the battlefields of the world for more than a century. Presently, more than ever before, the sound scientific precepts revealed by Kocher are essential to keep technologic investigation within the framework of good judgment.

Firearms↗