BACKGROUND US combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in a greater proportion of service members with head and neck wounds caused by explosions compared with that of previous wars. Although penetrating traumatic brain injury (TBI) is frequently associated with these wounds, the epidemiology of penetrating TBI from these conflicts has not been well described. METHODS The Joint ...

Combat Demographics From retrospective analysis, the majority of “potentially survivable” injuries resulting in death on the battlefield and after reaching a surgical facility are caused by hemorrhage.1–3 In combat, hemorrhage is the cause in 83% to 87% of all such potentially survivable deaths. Of these deaths, approximately 50% are attributed to noncompressible hemorrhage from penetrating tru...

Penetrating scrotal trauma is an uncommon injury that is often secondary to civilian or combat violence. Much of the literature on the topic is from case reports, small retrospective series from civilian trauma centers, and reports from combat zones. In this manuscript, a case report involving self-inflicted penetrating scrotal trauma from our institution is presented. Following the case report...

One of the primary goals of the military scientist addressing the prevention of trauma, is to develop new concepts for attenuating energy transfer to the body from either penetrating, non-penetrating or blast impacts. Personal armours have deficiencies, both in the body coverage achievable without degrading military performance, and in the inherent ability of the materials to attenuate high ene...

OBJECTIVES We sought to determine whether the performance of pyloric exclusion during repair of penetrating advanced duodenal injuries prevents postoperative duodenal fistulas and improves clinical outcome. METHODS A retrospective chart review of patients from 1995 to 2004 with penetrating duodenal injuries >or=grade II and all combined pancreaticoduodenal injuries was performed. Patients man...