[Penetrating gluteal injury due to sledging accident].

Abstract

We present the case of a rare penetrating sledging injury. A 39-year-old male sitting upright had his sledge burst when sliding into a pit. A stick fractured from the sledge's sitting plate and perforated from the infragluteal fold up to the lumbosacral junction. The man arrived in a conscious and cardiovascular stable condition in the ER, where no clinical evidence of vascular, retroperitoneal and pelvic injury was obvious. The anal external sphincter was uninjured and competent although the perforation enabled a look onto its surface. The foreign body was removed without further bleeding. Sledging injuries typically carry blunt characteristics, mainly with neurotrauma or fracture dislocations. As penetrating sledging injuries are exceptionally rare, strategies are discussed.