This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Danish colonel outlines strategies for managing combat injuries
COPENHAGEN — Military surgeons today must be well versed in damage control surgery when gunshot wounds, burns and landmine injuries are the order of the day, according to a Danish army colonel speaking here at the 12th EFORT Congress 2011.
During the opening lecture of an EFORT Comprehensive Review Course, Col. Finn Warburg, MD, member of the Medical Regiment of the Danish Army, discussed his experiences treating injured soldiers during the Afghan war.
“Control, good expediency of diverse tasks, safe surgery and damage control will do the job in the field, but you need to limit yourself to simple and small osteosynthesis,” he said.
|
|
Of the 63 war-wounded patients treated at his special unit at Copenhagen University Hospital in the past 5 years, 61 were discharged. He noted that there were 28 admissions to his unit in 2010 compared with four in 2006.
Among the key lessons of treating combat injuries at Warburg’s hospital were meticulous debridement using broad coverage antibiotics, closing wounds with rubber bands and vacuum pressure, treating injuries with microvascular free muscle flaps and restoring soldiers’ limb functionality with high-tech prostheses whenever possible.
Being a successful military surgeon away from the frontline requires team work, Warburg said. This means working with other allied health care professionals, such as plastic surgeons, nurses and rehabilitation specialists, and to partner fully with the patients.
“It is hard to restrict their physical activity,” Warburg said of his patients, adding that their motivation works to everyone’s benefit.
Reference:
- Warburg, F. Orthopaedic experiences with the Afghan war. Presented at the 12th EFORT Congress 2011. June 1-4. Copenhagen.
Follow
OrthoSuperSite.com on Twitter