Okuzeka
Emergency Medicine & First Aid vocabulary · Trauma and Injuries

Penetrating injury

Meaning in emergency medicine & first aid, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In emergency medicine & first aid, penetrating injury means: An injury in which an object, such as a knife, a bullet or a piece of metal, goes through the skin into the tissues below.

In Turkish: penetran yaralanma, delici yaralanma, delici-kesici alet yaralanması

How it is used

Also called penetrating trauma. Stab wounds and gunshot wounds are penetrating injuries, and clinicians note entry and exit wounds. An object still stuck in the body is called an 'impaled object'.

Example sentences

  1. Penetrating injury to the left chest, single stab wound.

  2. Even a small entry wound can hide a serious penetrating injury.

Common collocations

  • penetrating chest injury
  • penetrating trauma
  • stab wound
  • gunshot wound
  • blunt traumaInjury caused by an impact with a hard object or surface that does not pierce the skin, as in road crashes, falls and punches.
  • traumaPhysical injury to the body caused by an outside force, such as a road crash, a fall, an assault or an explosion, especially when it is serious.
  • woundAn injury where the skin or other tissue is cut, torn, pierced or broken, for example by a knife, glass, a fall or a bite.
  • hemorrhageThe medical word for bleeding, especially heavy bleeding, either from a wound or inside the body.

More terms: Trauma and Injuries

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not medical advice.