Abstract
Due to political instability in many Third World countries doctors in simply equipped rural hospitals are sometimes confronted with war injuries. In those situations sending patients to specialized centres is often impossible. We studied a series of 100 consecutive patients with missile injuries treated during 1982/3 in an Ugandan mission hospital. Out of these 87 were available for sufficient follow-up, 11 disappeared before completing the treatment, and two died. The results are reported. It is concluded that many cases of missile injuries, except the most serious thoraco-abdominal lesions and major neurovascular problems, can be managed satisfactorily in rural hospitals with basic facilities only, provided sound surgical principles are observed, particularly wound treatment in two stages.
Full text
PDF
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- Jabaley M. E., Peterson H. D. Early treatment of war wounds of the hand and forearm in Vietnam. Ann Surg. 1973 Feb;177(2):167–173. doi: 10.1097/00000658-197302000-00007. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Jackson D. S., Batty C. G., Ryan J. M., McGregor W. S. The Falklands war: Army field surgical experience. Ann R Coll Surg Engl. 1983 Sep;65(5):281–285. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Stevenson H. M., Wilson W. Surgery of violence. VII. Gunshot wounds of the trunk. Br Med J. 1975 Mar 29;1(5960):728–730. doi: 10.1136/bmj.1.5960.728. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]