• Cañas Rafael García RG Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Unit, Defense Central Hospital "Gómez Ulla", Glorieta del Ejército 1. 28047, Madrid, Spain., Suay Ricardo Navarro RN Anesthesiology, Reanimation and Pain Treatment Unit, Defense Central Hospital "Gómez Ulla", Glorieta del Ejército 1. 28047, Madrid, Spain., Moro Carlos Rodríguez CR Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Unit, Defense Central Hospital "Gómez Ulla", Glorieta del Ejército 1. 28047, Madrid, Spain., Daniel Aedo Martín, Rafael Tamburri Bariaín, and Javier Areta Jiménez.
• Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Unit, Defense Central Hospital "Gómez Ulla", Glorieta del Ejército 1. 28047, Madrid, Spain.
• Mil Med. 2020 Jun 8; 185 (5-6): e734-e741.

IntroductionCasualty evacuation is a key point in medical support to military operations, sometimes being necessary to transfer them to National Territory for a definitive diagnosis and treatment. The aim of this work is to analyze the patients evacuated from Areas of Operations to the Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Unit of the Spanish Role 4 Medical Treatment Facility in the last 10 years.Material And MethodsA cross-sectional, descriptive, and retrospective study carried out in the period between January 1, 2009 and December 31, 2018. The study population was all personnel evacuated from the Area of Operations to Spanish Role 4. For categorical variables, absolute and relative percent frequencies were used. Spanish military authorization was obtained to perform this study. This study has been approved by the Ethics and Clinical Research Committee of the Defense Central Hospital "Gómez Ulla" (code 12/17).ResultsA total of 520 medical evacuations have been performed on Role 4, of which 227 were on the Orthopedic Surgery and Traumatology Unit. Seven percent of the evacuees were categorized as "combat" casualties. The areas of operations from which more patients have been evacuated were Afghanistan and Lebanon, 30.39% and 19.38%, respectively. The most frequent lesion pattern was the fracture affecting the extremities. Accidents (n = 98, 43.17%) and sport (n = 57; 25.3%) were the main causes of injury. Sixty-seven (29.51%) patients were treated surgically in Role 4. No deaths were recorded among patients in this series.ConclusionEvacuations because of trauma cause more than half of the medical repatriations carried out on the National Territory, of which the majority are due to fractures affecting the limbs, especially the bones of the hand. Sport was the first preventable cause of injury among evacuated patients. Our results are similar to the experience obtained by other allied armed forces. It is a moral imperative and a fundamental necessity for the Spanish military medical services to promote and maintain the Spanish Role 4 Medical Treatment Facility as an indispensable element in medical support for international missions.© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Association of Military Surgeons of the United States. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

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