EMERGENCY-MEDICINE IN THE PERSIAN-GULF-WAR .3. BATTLEFIELD CASUALTIES

Study objective: To report the type and frequency of battlefield casua lties and the procedures performed to treat them. Study design: A pros pective analysis of trauma record data incorporating anatomic categori es and the Revised Trauma Score. Setting: Two military field trauma ce nters during the primary ground assault into Kuwait. Type of participa nts: Four hundred two trauma admissions of coalition and enemy forces. Main results: Forty-eight percent of casualties suffered fragmentatio n wounds, including 43 land mine injuries. Only 10% sustained gunshot wounds. Forty-four percent of casualties had injuries limited to the e xtremities; 29% had combined extremity injury and injury to another an atomic region. Extremity wounds occurred nearly twice as frequently in the lower extremities as in the upper extremities. Surgical procedure s were undertaken in 164 patients, with 108 debridements for major sof t tissue injuries or open fractures. Conclusion: The composite casualt y admitted to US Navy-Marine trauma facilities was injured by shrapnel in the lower extremity and required surgical debridement only. Soldie rs with land mine injuries, as in other wars, were among those in grea test need of emergency resuscitation.