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RACS ASC 2026
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Severe paediatric ride on lawnmower injury to bilateral lower limbs: A case report
Poster

Poster

Disciplines

Trauma Surgery

Presentation Description

Institution: Queensland Childrens Hospital - QLD, Australia

Background: Ride on lawnmower injuries are often associated with severe and devastating injuries. This applies particularly to small children. Furthermore, entire families are impacted by these disastrous accidents and significant long-term disability often results despite complex reconstructive procedures. This study aims to highlight the extent of these injuries through a case report while bringing attention to the importance of child safety around ride on lawnmowers. Case Report: 2 year old girl was run over by a ride on lawn mower in a regional Queensland town. Both legs were severely mangled. On arrival to hospital she had bilateral leg torniquets on and was hemodynamically unstable secondary to hemorrhage. Following resuscitation the lower limb injuries were assessed, showing severely contaminated bilateral compound tibial and fibula fractures. There was a further distal femur fracture on the left side. The patient was reviewed by both senior orthopedic and plastic surgeons and the multidisciplinary team decision was made to proceed with primary above knee amputation on the left side due to prolonged ischemia time and salvage of the right side which was still perfused via the posterior tibial artery. Following multiple washouts of the right leg, the ex fix was replaced with a hexapod frame and a latissimus dorsi free flap was used for soft tissue coverage of the heel and posterolateral leg. Microsurgery was performed end-to-side to the posterior tibial artery, the single vessel supplying the leg. Split thickness skin graft was taken from her left back (adjacent to latissimus dorsi donor site) as well as skin banked from the amputated left lower limb. There were no surgical complications, however she continue to undergo rehabilitation and lives with the limitations of her injuries. [pre-op, intra-op and post-op clinical photographs to be included]
Presenters
Authors
Authors

Dr Jasmine Zhang - , Dr Richard Theile -