crush injury of an extremity occurs when a limb is compressed between two hard surfaces, to the point where vascular supply is impaired and vulnerable tissues undergo necrosis. most commonly, limbs are crushed during auto versus pedestrian accidents, motor vehicle crashes, and industrial accidents. however, during natural disasters such as earthquakes, buildings collapse, landslides, mine cave-...

PURPOSES This study involved analysis of (a) type of injuries and medical services used by military casualties in 3 conflicts and (b) medical needs of military and civilian casualties from the 2006 conflict. BASIC PROCEDURES Military casualties from 3 conflicts and military and civilian casualties from the 2006 conflict were analyzed. Casualties were compared in relation to type of injury, le...

In this paper we explore whether violence in Iraq is gravitating towards a steady state level of violence observed in other civil wars, such as those in Colombia, Sri Lanka, Sierra Leone, among others. Using data from the Iraq Body Count for 2003-2007, we explore whether civilian casualties follow a power law distribution. We replicate previous analyses of civilian casualties and confirm that c...

BACKGROUND Recent civilian studies have documented a relationship between increased mortality and the presence of an early coagulopathy of trauma diagnosed in the emergency department (ED). We hypothesized that acute coagulopathy (international normalized ratio >/=1.5) in combat casualties was associated with increased injury severity and mortality as is seen in civilian trauma patients. METH...

The era of global terrorism and asymmetric warfare heralded by the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States have blurred the traditional lines between civilian and military trauma. The lessons learned by physicians in the theaters of war, particularly regarding the response to mass casualties, blast and fragmentation injuries, and resuscitation of casualties in austere environments, like...

Challenges exist when making reliable and valid estimates of civilian mortality due to war. This article first discusses a framework used to examine war’s impact on civilians and then considers challenges common to each statistical approach taken to estimate civilian casualties. It examines the different approaches that have been used to estimate civilian casualties associated with the recent f...