World journal of surgery
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Global surgery, while historically a small niche, is becoming a larger part of the global health enterprise. This article discusses the burden of global surgery, emphasizing the importance of addressing surgical needs in low- and middle-income countries. ⋯ It emphasizes the crucial role of preparation for global surgical interventions as a way to maximize benefits as well as minimize harms and ethical challenges. It ends with the cautionary statement that preparation does not eliminate ethical problems, so surgical volunteers must be prepared not only for the technical challenges of global surgery but also for the ethical challenges.
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World journal of surgery · Jul 2014
Incidence and epidemiology of casualties treated at the Dutch role 2 enhanced medical treatment facility at multi national base Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan in the period 2006-2010.
To improve care for the injured service member, we have analyzed battle casualty patterns and mechanisms. This study is the first documented report of wounding patterns and mechanisms of battle casualties treated at the Dutch role 2 enhanced medical treatment facility at the multi-national base Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan, Afghanistan. ⋯ The wounding patterns seen at the Dutch role 2 enhanced medical treatment facility at the multi-national base Tarin Kowt resemble the patterns as recorded by other coalition partners. The wounding patterns differ with previous conflicts: a greater proportion of head and neck wounds, and a lower proportion of truncal wounds.
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Ethnic disparities in trauma mortality outcomes have been demonstrated in the United States according to the US National Trauma Data Bank. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of race/ethnicity on trauma mortality in Singapore. ⋯ Ethnicity is not an independent predictor of trauma mortality outcomes in the Singapore population. Our findings contrast with those from the United States, where race/ethnicity (Black and Hispanic) remains a strong independent risk factor for trauma mortality. This study attests to the success of the Singapore health care/trauma system in delivering the same quality of care regardless of ethnicity.
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World journal of surgery · Jul 2014
The utility of FAST for initial abdominal screening of major pelvic fracture patients.
Focused Assessment with Sonography for Trauma (FAST) is widely used in pelvic fracture patients. We examined the performance of FAST for detecting hemoperitoneum and predicting the need for intra-abdominal hemorrhage control in major pelvic fracture patients. ⋯ FAST had a good to excellent diagnostic accuracy, depending on the size of hemoperitoneum. A positive FAST result (even in HS patients) does not reliably predict the need for immediate intra-abdominal hemorrhage control but a negative FAST result renders the need for an intervention highly unlikely.