ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the lesions thought to underlie the symptoms and signs of lightning injury. Central to a discussion of pathophysiology are the mechanisms by which the lightning stroke affects the body. In all lightning injury, one of several physical mechanisms operates, and conceivably combinations of these. Direct strike obviously portends the greatest damage, with stride potential due to earth potential rise being the least harmful. Touch potential and "side-flash" impingement may be thought of as variants of direct strike, but of lesser magnitude. The strokes were approximately 40 ms apart, three in number, and were applied directly to the animal's head via a needle. Energy input alone was examined, and no account was taken of synchrony with the cardiac cycle — especially the probability of transgressing the "vulnerable window" of late repolarization. Other effects have been proposed for the effects of lightning damage to tissue, including heating effects.
