Citation

Korver AJ. Ned. Tijdschr. Geneeskd. 1994; 138(13): 659-661.

Vernacular Title

Medische gevolgen van landmijnen: ervaringen van het Rode Kruis.

Affiliation

Nederlandse Rode Kruis, afd. Internationale Activiteiten, Den Haag.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1994, Erven Bohn)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

8152495

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To describe the medical consequences of land mine injuries. DESIGN: Retrospective study. METHOD: A total of 17,414 casualties of war, treated in five hospitals of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) over a three-year period were evaluated. 3264 of these casualties had anti-personnel mine injuries. RESULTS: Approximately one out of three land mine casualties underwent an amputation of the lower extremities (n = 1040). The number of operations and the blood requirements depended on the extent of the amputation. Hospital mortality was 3.8%. CONCLUSION: Amputees have a higher mortality and a longer hospital stay, need more blood and undergo more operations than non-amputated casualties. The social consequences are considerable, as well. Better protection against indiscriminate use of anti-personnel mines is urgently necessary on medical grounds.

Language: nl