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. 2006 Jun;243(6):715-29.
doi: 10.1097/01.sla.0000220038.66466.b5.

Combat casualty care and surgical progress

Affiliations

Combat casualty care and surgical progress

Basil A Pruitt Jr. Ann Surg. 2006 Jun.
No abstract available

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Figures

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FIGURE 1. The first written description of the treatment of battle wounds is attributed to the Iliad. Wound care was depicted on early Greek pottery such as this painting on a Greek vase found in Vulci in 1828 and dated 500 BC. Achilles is shown binding a wound on the left arm of his cousin and best friend Patroclus. The arrow resting parallel to the right leg of Patroclus has been placed there after removal from his arm. Reproduced by permission from the Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, New York.
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FIGURE 2. A horse-drawn Autenrieth Medicine Wagon used by the Union Army stands behind an operating table upon which a patient is being readied for surgery. The surgeon is examining the leg to be amputated and his assistant is using a cloth cone to administer the anesthetic. Courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Washington, DC.
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FIGURE 3. Prompt surgery at a forward-placed Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) as shown here reduced the injury to operation interval in the Korean Conflict and decreased the mortality associated with war wounds. Note photographers of the research team filming the operation. Courtesy of the National Museum of Health and Medicine, Washington, DC.
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FIGURE 4. In the Vietnam Conflict, “Dust-off” helicopters were dedicated for casualty transport. Prompt delivery of casualties to a MASH hospital or as shown here to an evacuation hospital, often within minutes of injury resulted in the salvage of patients with injuries previously associated with prehospital mortality.

References

    1. The Revelation of John. Chapter 6, Verse 1–8. The Holy Bible American Standard Edition of the Revised Bible. New York: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1901.
    1. Rutkow IM. Surgery: An Illustrated History. St. Louis, MO: Mosby, 1993.
    1. Homer. The Iliad IV (Translated by Robert Fagles). New York: Penguin, 1990:151–152.
    1. Haeger Knut. The Illustrated History of Surgery. London: Harold Starke, 1989.
    1. Graham H. Surgeons All. New York: Philosophical Library, 1957.

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