Travis Barlock, MD, an emergency medicine specialist, shares key insights on electrical burns. He reveals that these injuries account for 2-9% of burns in emergency departments, predominantly affecting men in their 20s and 30s. The discussion highlights the often hidden internal damage, such as cardiac dysrhythmias and muscle breakdown. Barlock emphasizes the importance of ECG screening and explains how voltage relates to tissue damage severity, making a case for thorough assessments, especially in high-voltage scenarios.
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insights INSIGHT
Demographics And Hidden Severity
Electrical burns make up about 2–9% of burns presenting to EDs and mostly affect young men in occupational settings.
Upper extremities are the most common entry points, so external appearance can underestimate deeper injury.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Always Screen The Heart
Get a screening EKG for every electrical burn to detect dysrhythmias ranging from PVCs to ventricular arrhythmias.
Continue standard ABCs and burn care while evaluating cardiac involvement promptly.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Evaluate For Muscle Breakdown
Check for muscle injury with serial compartment exams and obtain CPK to evaluate for rhabdomyolysis.
Monitor for compartment syndrome and manage accordingly because internal damage may exceed skin findings.
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Quick Statistics on Electrical Burns: Electrical burns compose roughly 2 to 9% of all burns that come into emergency departments.
The majority of patients who receive electrical burns are male, typically aged 20's to 30's, accounting for 80 to 90% of all electrical burn victims.
The majority of burns are linked to occupational exposure.
The upper extremities are more commonly impacted by electrical burns, accounting for 70 to 90% of entry points into the body during an exposure.
What are some of the key considerations in electrical burns?
Unlike chemical or fire/heat related burns, electrical burns have the potential to cause significant internal damage that may not be physically appreciated externally.
This damage can include, but is not limited to:
Cardiac dysthymias (PVCs, SVT, AV block, to more serious ventricular dysrhythmias such as ventricular fibrillation or ventricular tachycardia).
Deep tissue injury resulting in rhabdomyolysis from the initial surge of electricity
Rare cases of compartment syndrome
What are the treatment considerations for patients who suffer electrical burns?
Remembering that cutaneous findings associated with burns may underestimate the severity of the injury, with deeper structures being more likely to be involved as the voltage of the burn injury is directly correlated to severity.
Manage the patient's airway, breathing, and circulation as always, and conduct further workup into potential cardiac involvement with EKGs, as well as analysis of the extremities where entry occurred for muscle breakdown and compartment syndrome.
Clinical Pearl on Voltage and Current:
Voltage can be thought of being equivalent to pressure in a fluid/liquid system. Higher voltages are equivalent to higher pressures, but the ultimate damage delivered to the system is from the rate of delivery/speed of the electrical energy surging (current) through the body.
Current is dependent on the tissue it is travelling through, with different tissues having differing electrical resistances. Tissues like the stratum corneum of the skin and the human bone confer the most resistance (thus lower current) whereas skeletal muscle confers lower electrical resistance (thus higher current) due to water and electrolyte content, which is why injuries like rhabdomyolysis are possible and increase with increasing voltage.
References
Khor D, AlQasas T, Galet C, et al. Electrical injuries and outcomes: A retrospective review. Burns. 2023;49(7):1739-1744. doi:10.1016/j.burns.2023.03.015
Durdu T, Ozensoy HS, Erturk N, Yılmaz YB. Impact of Voltage Level on Hospitalization and Mortality in Electrical Injury Cases: A Retrospective Analysis from a Turkish Emergency Department. Med Sci Monit. 2025;31:e947675. doi:10.12659/MSM.947675
Karray R, Chakroun-Walha O, Mechri F, et al. Outcomes of electrical injuries in the emergency department: epidemiology, severity predictors, and chronic sequelae. Eur J Trauma Emerg Surg. 2025;51(1):85. doi:10.1007/s00068-025-02766-1
Faes TJ, van der Meij HA, de Munck JC, Heethaar RM. The electric resistivity of human tissues (100 Hz-10 MHz): a meta-analysis of review studies. Physiol Meas. 1999;20(4):R1-10. doi:10.1088/0967-3334/20/4/201
Summarized by Dan Orbidan, OMS2 | Edited by Dan Orbidan and Jorge Chalit, OMS4
Emergency Medical Minute 