Recent U.S. military conflicts have demonstrated a smaller role for the infantry and artillery and a larger role for airborne operations and remote fighting. Consequently, different types of musculoskeletal injuries have been sustained in recent battles when compared with traditional types of military injuries. The number and types of orthopedic injuries sustained in the recent Persian Gulf combat have been reviewed to see how they differed from traditional missile and shrapnel injuries. Existing diagnostic imaging modalities have been evaluated whether they were sufficient to diagnose the types of injuries incurred. The authors also sought to determine if a dedicated extremity MR scanner would provide monetary benefits and enhance military readiness. The authors retrospectively reviewed data on all musculoskeletal injuries incurred in Desert Shield/Desert Storm to determine the total number of injuries, proportion of orthopedic injuries, number of soft-tissue orthopedic injuries, and the country where the diagnosis was established. The authors also determined the number of patients, duration, and economic impact of the evacuation process. There were 1011 fractures and 1177 soft-tissue injuries; 408 soft-tissue injuries were diagnosed in the Persian Gulf countries, and 769 diagnosed in the United States and Germany. The average time to evacuate these 769 patients was 21 days with an estimated replacement cost of 836.885 US-Dollar. Musculoskeletal soft-tissue injuries comprised 34 % of the overall injuries in the Persian Gulf War, and twice as many patients required evacuation for diagnosis as were diagnosed locally using existing imaging modalities. A dedicated extremity magnetic resonance scanner in the battlefield would obviate many evacuations and hence be of both monetary and military readiness benefit.


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    Title :

    Incidence and methods of diagnosis of musculoskeletal injuries incurred in operations desert shield and desert storm


    Contributors:

    Published in:

    Investigative Radiology ; 32 , 3 ; 169-173


    Publication date :

    1997


    Size :

    5 Seiten, 3 Tabellen, 8 Quellen




    Type of media :

    Article (Journal)


    Type of material :

    Print


    Language :

    English