AN ELECTRICAL burn of the larynx is a devastating injury with a highly fatal portent. Yet, complete rehabilitation after such trauma can be within reach of current surgical techniques. A patient with this unusual problem was recently treated at the University of Iowa Hospitals with success.
Report of a Case
On Nov 8, 1965, a 68-year-old farmer helped his neighbor push a corn elevator (a 50-foot long, wheeled device with a conveyor belt projecting upward on an extension 30 feet above the ground) to a storage shed. The metal extension arm collided with a 7,200 v overhead power line. At the moment of contact, only the patient was pushing the machine. The neighbor saw a burst of flame and a cloud of smoke on the patient's side of the corn elevator and found him unconscious on the ground. The patient revived spontaneously and was taken to a local hospital, where