John Kirkup, the distinguished orthopaedic surgeon and archivist recently published a book describing the history of amputation. This annotation highlights the importance of this work and the particular relevance of many of its themes to current orthopaedic and trauma practice.

STUDY OBJECTIVE Missed injuries sustain an important issue concerning patient safety and quality of care. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of surgeon commitment to trauma care on missed injuries. We hypothesised that surgeons committed to the trauma service has less missed injuries than surgeons not committed to the trauma service would have. METHODS By retrospective analysi...

INTRODUCTION The management of splenic injuries has shifted from splenectomy to splenic preservation owing to the risk of overwhelming post-splenectomy infection (OPSI). This study aimed to identify the factors that determine splenectomy in patients with isolated splenic injuries, with a view to increasing the rate of splenic preservation. PATIENTS AND METHODS Files of 55 patients managed for...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE General surgeons are required in only a minority of trauma call cases to assess for abdominal injuries. Computed tomography (CT) accurately detects blunt abdominal injuries and may have replaced the need for general surgeons at trauma calls. This study evaluated the role of general surgeons at trauma calls and assessed use of CT in cases of suspected abdominal trauma. ...

BACKGROUND Sonography has become the primary mode for the initial evaluation of abdominal injury in many trauma centers. However, the rate at which nonradiologists become proficient in this technique remains controversial. OBJECTIVE To assess the learning curve for this technique in a single institution. DESIGN Retrospective review of sonographic examinations for trauma performed by senior ...

M. Odumenya, BSc, MBBS, MRCS, Orthopaedic Registrar M. L. Costa, PhD, FRCS(Trauma and Orth), Associate Professor of Trauma and Orthopaedics Surgery N. Parsons, BSc, MSc, PhD, Medical Statistician J. Achten, MSc, PhD, Research Manager Clinical Sciences Research Institute M. Dhillon, FRCR, Consultant Radiologist S. J. Krikler, BSc, PhD, FRCS(Ortho), Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon University Hospi...

Captain James McLean joined the Army Reserve in 2003. In September 2007 he accepted an appointment as an SSO Medical Officer at 3HSB. He is currently completing a Masters of Surgery at the University of Adelaide, with the support of a Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Foundation Scholarship. He has a special interest in upper limb and trauma surgery, and ultimately plans to serve as a Rese...