Treatment of severe head injury in sea turtles by “Mix 557”, a new herbal product with antiseptic and healing properties.

Often rescue centres receive sea turtle showing traumatic injuries of the skull, due to the impact with boats, trawling nets, or suffering for a disease and having been hit against rocks by waves. More, unfortunately in some cases this kind of injury is caused intentionally by fishermen, using harpoons or tools. The repair of skull fractures is a real deal in sea turtles because of the morphological structure and the anatomical features of the cranial bones, making difficult the surgical reduction of the fracture. In this study we describe the treatment of 5 sub-adult loggerhead sea turtles (Caretta caretta) with severe skull fractures of parietal, frontal and postorbital bones, caracterized by loss of matter and deep lesions; in a case there was the exposition of the meninges. After X-ray evaluations, the part of the trauma has been treated every one to two days with applications of “MIX 557” (EP 48211/BE 2008), a combination of plant extracts of Neem and St John’s worth in plant oil, extensively tested for its capacity to properly regulate the complex events of the wound healing process. After each treatment the part has been covered with strips of sterile gauze impregnated with vaseline oil in order to isolate the lesion and allow the turtle in the water. During the treatment period, as the granulation tissue was progressing, the bone fragments in necrosis or not integrated in the repair process were removed. In all cases, after a treatment period between 70 days to 4 months, there was an excellent repair of the lesion, with satisfactory replacement of bone lost by keratinized granulation tissue which had adequately compensated the loss of matter. In two cases, the evolution of the repair process has been documented by CT and 3D reconstruction. In one case, despite the restoration of the tissue, a severe neurological deficit persited, correlated to the severe brain trauma. At the end of the healing process, the remaining 4 turtles have been released in the wild.