Emergency War Surgery NATO Handbook: Part I: Types of Wounds and Injuries: Chapter II: Missile-Caused Wounds

Fragments From Explosive Devices

United States Department of Defense

The great majority of fragments from explosive devices are of blunt or irregular shape, distinctly not aerodynamic, and of steel or less dense material. This causes them to lose velocity rapidly in air with resultant decreases in tissue penetration depth compared to the denser streamlined rifle bullets. Although initial fragment velocities in the 5,900 ft/sec (1800 m/sec) range have been reported for some of these devices, the wounds observed in survivors indicate that striking velocities were less than 1900 ft/sec (600 m/sec). For this reason, body armor affords much better protection against these fragments than against the rifle bullet. The crush type of tissue disruption predominates in the injury pattern caused by the individual fragment from these devices, with little evidence of temporary cavity stretch. The projectile track made by the fragment is consistent with its size and generally remains constant throughout its path. It is analogous to the wound from a single shotgun pellet. In cases where a survivor was close enough to the device to be struck by multiple fragments in a localized area, such as stepping on a landmine, the injury pattern is similar to that produced by #4 buckshot at close range (Figure 14). In this situation, the crush mechanism results in the massive tissue disruption one encounters when many permanent wound paths in close proximity to one another totally destroy anatomic integrity.

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Operational Medicine 2001

Health Care in Military Settings

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