Afghan war wounded: experience with 200 cases. 1988

J Rautio, and P Paavolainen
Department of Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.

The injuries seen in 200 Afghan war wounded in the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) hospital in Quetta are reported. Evacuation took several days and no proper initial first aid was available. Therefore few of those reaching us had serious multiple injuries. The anatomic distribution of wounds was remarkably similar to that seen in other conflicts: 38% of the injuries were caused by bullets, 50% by fragmentation weapons, and 10% by mines. Two thirds of the patients had limb injuries. Of all wounded, patients with fractures of long bones needed the greatest number of repeated operations and the longest hospitalization time. Twenty-five patients had abdominal or perineal wounds and 12 needed laparotomy. Of 25 with head injuries 14 had penetrating brain trauma. Thoracic, vascular, and burn injuries were rare. The eight patients with spinal cord injury could fortunately be referred to the ICRC rehabilitation center in Peshawar within a week. Wound sepsis was the major problem due to the extraordinarly long delay in the initiation of treatment. In spite of the often grossly infected wounds, radical debridement usually led to good recovery for most patients, with a hospital mortality rate of only 2.5%.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D007869 Leg Injuries General or unspecified injuries involving the leg. Injuries, Leg,Injury, Leg,Leg Injury
D008297 Male Males
D002648 Child A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL. Children
D003646 Debridement The removal of foreign material and devitalized or contaminated tissue from or adjacent to a traumatic or infected lesion until surrounding healthy tissue is exposed. (Dorland, 27th ed) Debridements
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000007 Abdominal Injuries General or unspecified injuries involving organs in the abdominal cavity. Injuries, Abdominal,Abdominal Injury,Injury, Abdominal
D000293 Adolescent A person 13 to 18 years of age. Adolescence,Youth,Adolescents,Adolescents, Female,Adolescents, Male,Teenagers,Teens,Adolescent, Female,Adolescent, Male,Female Adolescent,Female Adolescents,Male Adolescent,Male Adolescents,Teen,Teenager,Youths
D000328 Adult A person having attained full growth or maturity. Adults are of 19 through 44 years of age. For a person between 19 and 24 years of age, YOUNG ADULT is available. Adults
D000346 Afghanistan Country located north and west of Pakistan, and east of Iran. The capital is Kabul.

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