Progress towards an effective therapeutic strategy for victims of electrical trauma depends on advancing knowledge of the physical mechanisms of tissue injury activated by strong electric fields. It is well recognized that rupture of skeletal muscle cell membranes is a prominent clinical feature manifested by victims of electrical trauma. Exposure to either supraphysiologic temperatures or supraphysiologic transmembrane potentials can cause cell membrane disruption. The strong electric fields characteristically established in high-voltage electrical trauma victims generate rapid heating as well as impose destructively large transmembrane potentials in skeletal muscle and nerve tissues. The relative importance of heat versus electrical stress as mechanisms of cellular damage is uncertain in the majority
of victims. This is an active and important arena of bioengineering research. The salient biophysical aspects of this frequently crippling and often fatal injury is reviewed.
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