Mass Casualties in Combat: Lessons Learned

Abstract

Abstract : The current military trauma systems in Iraq and Afghanistan are effective at dealing with both routine multiple casualty events and the less common mass casualty event. Analysis of multiple and mass casualty events from current conflicts can provide critical lessons learned regarding triage and resource utilization that can potentially be applied to other conflicts or civilian multiple or mass casualty events. Although the findings of this study regarding blood product utilization may not be directly applicable to catastrophic, national-level events, the consistency of the findings with the Israeli experience and across a wide range of smaller multiple or mass casualty explosion-related events is striking. Hence, for such events, the number of casualties generated may provide a reliable baseline prediction of blood product needs and percentages of patients who will require transfusion and massive transfusion. This in turn can help determine the distribution of casualties among medical treatment facilities and allow for activation of additional blood resources, such as notification of more distant blood banks or initiation of fresh whole blood drives. Clearly, the experiences with mass casualty events that both military and civilian surgeons encounter must continue to be studied and shared.