401 Global Neurosurgery Advances from Trenches to Bedside: Lessons from Neurosurgical Care in War, Humanitarian Assistance, and Disaster Response

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: War has influenced the development of neurosurgery. Armed conflict and mass casualty events, including Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief (HADR) missions, require military surgeons to innovate to meet extreme demands. Neurosurgeons serving in the military have provided a pragmatic template for global neurosurgeons to emulate in humanitarian disaster responses METHODS: We performed a narrative review of the literature examining the influence of wars and mass casualty disasters on contemporary global neurosurgery practices. RESULTS: Wartime innovations that influenced global neurosurgery include the development of triage systems and modernization with airlifts, implementation of ambulance corps, early operation on cranial injuries in hospital camps near the battlefield, use of combat body armor, and the rise of damage control neurosurgery. Workforce shortages during wars and disasters have promoted task-shifting and task-sharing in low-resource settings that catalyzed the establishment of the physician associate profession in the United States (US). Neurosurgical care has been utilized by the US as a form of "soft power" during natural and humanitarian disasters. Low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) face similar challenges in developing trauma systems and obtaining advanced technology, including neurosurgical equipment like battery-powered computed tomography scanners. These challenges— ubiquitous in low-resource settings— have underpinned innovations in triage and wound care, rapid evacuation to tertiary care centers, and minimizing infection risk. CONCLUSIONS: War and mass casualty disasters have catalyzed significant advancements in neurosurgical care both in the pre-hospital and inpatient settings. Most of these innovations originated in the military with subsequent spread to the civilian sector as military neurosurgeons and civilian neurosurgeons, who are military reservists, returned from the battlefront or other low-resource locations. LMICs have, by necessity, responded to challenges arising from resource shortages by developing innovative, context-specific care paradigms and technologies.