Showing papers on "Afghan Campaign 2001- published in 2013"

Humanitarian care by a forward surgical team in afghanistan.

Abstract: Background: The mission of a Forward Surgical Team (FST) is to provide immediate lifesaving surgery to wounded U.S. and coalition forces. The degree of humanitarian surgical care provided to civilians is a topic of controversy. Methods: From May 2011 to November 2011, the surgeons of the 126th FST provided humanitarian surgical care to Afghan civilians. Results: The FST surgeons provided 553 surgical evaluations on 511 Afghan civilians. Of the patients, 95% were male and 38% were children. Forty percent of the clinic visits involved wound care and 20% involved a general surgery diagnosis. Seventeen percent involved an orthopedic diagnosis and 23% involved various surgical subspecialty diagnoses. Of the patients, 11% required a procedure necessitating the use of anesthesia. Interviews with Afghan patients and civic leaders identified a positive impact. Conclusion: This is the first report of humanitarian surgical care provided by surgeons of a FST in Afghanistan. Time and resource investment was mi...

Saving Lives on the Battlefield: A Joint Trauma System Review of Pre-Hospital Trauma Care in Combined Joint Operating Area ? Afghanistan (CJOA-A) Executive Summary.

Abstract: Abstract : During the Vietnam conflict, many U.S. casualties died because they failed to receive pre-hospital trauma care interventions as simple as placing a tourniquet on a bleeding extremity. A paper from the Vietnam era noted that: ...little if any improvement has been made in this (pre-hospital) phase of treatment of combat wounds in the past 100 years. This statement continued to be true until the development of Tactical Combat Casualty Care (TCCC) in 1996. TCCC is a set of pre-hospital trauma care guidelines customized for use on the battlefield. One example of the lifesaving potential of TCCC guidelines is renewed focus on pre-hospital tourniquet use. Until recently military medics were taught that a tourniquet should be used only as a last resort to control extremity hemorrhage, yet a study of 2600 combat fatalities incurred during the Vietnam conflict and a study of 982 combat fatalities incurred during the early years of conflict in Afghanistan and Iraq noted death from extremity hemorrhage was relatively unchanged at 7.4% and 7.8% respectively. After the global implementation of the tourniquet recommendations from the TCCC guidelines, a recent comprehensive study of 4596 U.S. combat fatalities from 2001 to 2011 noted that only 2.6% of total combat fatalities resulted from extremity hemorrhage. This dramatic decrease in deaths from extremity hemorrhage resulted from ubiquitous fielding of modern tourniquets and aggressive training of all potential first responders on tourniquet application. Currently, if you are a U.S. or Coalition casualty on the battlefield of Afghanistan and you arrive alive to a Role 3 Medical Treatment Facility (MTF), your chance of survival is greater than 98%. Although the overall case fatality rate in the ongoing conflict is lower in comparison to previous conflicts, significant challenges still remain.

First impressions revisited

Abstract: The Afghan Troop Medical Center is a quaint building with rosebushes lining the walkway and a well-groomed lawn. The first clue that this hospital is very different from any back home is that the lawn is tended by an old man, on his hands and knees, carefully cutting the grass handful by handful