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Citation
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Dunn JC, Kusnezov N, Schoenfeld AJ, Orr JD, Cook PJ, Belmont PJ. Ann. Vasc. Surg. 2016; 35: 30-37. |
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Abstract
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INTRODUCTION: This study sought to identify vascular injury patterns among combat-specific cavalry scout personnel within the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars.
METHODS: The Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) and Joint Theater Trauma Registry (JTTR) were queried for all injuries with the cavalry scout designation from 2003-2011, including those both wounded in action and killed in action. A description of vascular injury, combat causality care statistics, mechanism of injury and demographic data were recorded.
RESULTS: Sixteen percent (n=111) of the 701 cavalry scouts with a combat wound sustained a vascular injury. Among cavalry scouts sustaining vascular injuries 69% were caused by an explosive mechanism of injury, 63% were Killed in action (KIA) and 29% had a major extremity amputation. Cavalry scout soldiers with a vascular injury were significantly more likely to result from explosion (p<0.0001), be KIA (p<0.0001) and occur in Iraq (p<0.0001). The rate of non-compressible arterial injury was 65%. Wounded in Action (WIA) cavalry scout soldiers with a compressible vascular injury with clear documentation of prehospital tourniquet utilization arrived at a Medical Treatment Facility (MTF) in 67% of cases with a tourniquet in place. Of these transported with a prehospital tourniquet 83% survived.
CONCLUSION: The high rates of KIA and extremity amputation among cavalry scout soldiers with a vascular injury denotes the lethality of these combat injuries. Uniformly equipping soldiers with battlefield tourniquets and educating them on their prehospital use might improve the survivorship of those servicemembers sustaining a compressible vascular injury.
Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Language: en |