Surgery for blast injuries: experience of an Australian surgical team in Afghanistan

Anthony Chambers, Patrick Liston, Michael Reade, Brett Courtenay, Andrew Higgs, Jeffrey Rosenfeld

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleOther

2 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

From 2001 to the present day, the military forces of the USA, the United Kingdom, Australia and other allied nations have been involved in operations in Afghanistan. Following a short initial period of conventional operations, coalition forces are now engaged in an ongoing conflict against insurgent groups. In this asymmetric warfare, the weapons of choice for insurgents are improvised explosive devices and attacks with rockets and mortars. For this reason, blast injury is the most common cause of wounding of coalition troops, accounting for more than 78 of battle casualties in US forces.1 The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the experiences of an Australian military surgical team managing civilian and military casualties with blast injuries while deployed to the Oruzgan region of Afghanistan in 2009. During this deployment to Afghanistan, 74 patients with blast injuries were managed and 60 surgical procedures were performed for casualties with these injuries. Blast injuries were the most common cause of wounding in both civilian and military casualties presenting during this deployment. The injuries caused by blast weapons in these patients are detailed in Table 1.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)110 - 113
Number of pages4
JournalANZ Journal of Surgery
Volume81
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2011

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