Feasibility of Damage Control Surgery in the Management of Military Combat Casualties
Ben Eiseman, MD;
Ernest E. Moore, MD;
Daniel R. Meldrum, MD;
Christopher Raeburn, MD
Arch Surg. 2000;135:1323-1327.
Unique and expanded applications of staged operative management are undergoing careful evaluation in many civilian level I trauma centers under the rubric of damage control surgery. Recently there have been advocates for its broad application to the early management of critically injured combat casualties. However, the enormous logistic requirements for such strategies are contrary to the demands of the usual wartime scenario. On the basis of experience in civilian trauma centers and combat casualty management, we question the suggested extensive role of damage control surgery during wartime. Each decision point in damage control surgery should be analyzed as it is altered (sensitivity analysis) by conditions of war. It is unwise to adopt such indications unchanged from current civilian trauma policy.
From the Department of Surgery, Denver Veterans Administration Hospital, Denver Health Medical Center and University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver.
RELATED ARTICLES
Feasibility of Damage Control Surgery in the Management of Military Combat Casualties—Invited Critique
Kimball I. Maull
Arch Surg. 2000;135(11):1327.
EXTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Archives of Surgery Reader's Choice: Continuing Medical Education
Arch Surg. 2000;135(11):1373-1374.
FULL TEXT
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
Combat Orthopaedics: A View From the Trenches
Covey,
J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2006;14:S10-S17.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Initial Experience of US Marine Corps Forward Resuscitative Surgical System During Operation Iraqi Freedom
Chambers et al.
Arch Surg 2005;140:26-32.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Military Damage Control
Holcomb et al.
Arch Surg 2001;136:965-967.
FULL TEXT
|
