Sheepdog Tip of the Day, After Combat tip 28
The medical technology continues to move forward, saving ever more lives every year. In an article entitled "New Battlefield techniques," NY Times reporter Gina Kolata interviewed Dr. Paul K. Carlton Jr., the recently retired surgeon general of the Air Force. He told of field surgeons who carry everything needed in a backpack, including "sonogram machines the size of cassette recorders, and devices the size of a PDA that can do a complete laboratory analysis on a drop of blood." Dr. Carlton used the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan as an example of what is now possible. Of 250 seriously injured patients, only one died. "It was the lowest died-of-wounds rate in the history of war," he said. One man suffered a catastrophic wound to his rectum, prostate, anus and bladder. The ghastly injury plunged him into shock immediately, but one of the backpack surgical teams got to him right away and did a damage control surgery. Then, he was put on an airplane equipped as a critical care unit and flown a few thousand miles to another hospital for another surgery to stabilize him. Then he was flown to Germany for reconstructive surgery. "He's home with his family now," Dr. Carlton said. In any other war, he added, "he would have been dead."
Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, On Combat
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