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New book addresses orthopedic combat challenges in Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts
Two Army officers, both orthopedic surgeons, assembled experts to author chapters on principles, advancements and other topics in their new book.
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The need for a textbook specific to the injuries that orthopedic surgeons encounter in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflict has been fulfilled in the new 352-page book, Combat Orthopedic Surgery: Lessons Learned in Iraq and Afghanistan, edited by Brett D. Owens, MD, MC USA, and Philip J. Belmont, Jr., MD, MC USA, published this month by Slack Books, Thorofare, N.J., according to the editors.
SLACK Incorporated is the parent company of both Slack Books and Orthopedics Today.
The authors told Orthopedics Today that John A. Feagin, MD, who was involved in editing a similar textbook on the Vietnam war, provided them with the idea for this new publication in 2009.
“Clearly the need for a comprehensive text concerning orthopedic combat-related injuries sustained by U.S. military service members in Iraq and Afghanistan has been widely recognized by military orthopedic surgeons,” Owens and Belmont said.
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Image: SLACK Incorporated |
To ensure all the key topics were covered in-depth in their book, the editors tapped the real experts — physicians from various branches of the military — to write the chapters in the five sections of the book: Principles, Advancements, Upper Extremity, Lower Extremity, and Spine/Pelvis.
“The authors were selected because they have been active academically in documenting their surgical, medical and rehabilitative experience. When significant gaps existed within the peer-reviewed literature, we called upon the subject matter experts who have been most involved in treating these combat musculoskeletal injuries. All of the senior authors of these chapters have been deployed to combat during the course of these wars,” Owens and Belmont said.
According to the editors, there is no single stand-out lesson in the book “except that improvements in body and vehicular armor have allowed patients to survive increasingly complex orthopedic injuries that are most commonly caused by explosive mechanisms.
“We aspire to provide surgeons access to the latest research and treatment options to provide optimal care for those service members of our all-volunteer force who become combat casualties.”
Owens and Belmont noted those familiar with the manuscript were impressed with the assembly of the knowledge leaders who comprise their panel of authors. Since many readers will undoubtedly not be familiar with military medicine, they included historical and organizational background information in the book to help orient readers to this topic. – by Susan M. Rapp
Reference:
- Owens B, Belmont PJ. Combat Orthopedic Surgery: Lessons Learned in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thorofare, N.J.: SLACK Incorporated; 2011.
- www.slackbooks.com/orthosurgery
Combat casualties persist. As Hippocrates noted, “War is the only proper school for the surgeon,” and a review of the art and science of casualty care and lessons learned after more than 8 years of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan is appropriate. The authors are to be congratulated for their vision, experience and meaningful contributions.
As a contributor to Surgery in Vietnam published by the Office of the Surgeon General and Center of Military History, United States Army, Washington, D.C., 1994, I have looked forward to this work to compare with our work and other publications, such as The NATO Handbook and previous publications from Korea and World War II.
The comparison is significant. Combat casualty care is now a recognized discipline with a core curriculum. This is a major scientific advance from the anecdotal contributions of yesteryear.
I applaud the authors for their lasting and significant contribution to this conflict, to the scientific care of the combat casualty and to the training of those who follow.
– John A. Feagin, Col. (ret), MD
Vail, Colo.
Reference:
Geist ES. JAMA. 1919;73(12):875-876.
Disclosure: He has no relevant financial disclosures.