Background: Airway obstruction is the second leading cause of potentially preventable death on the battlefield. Prior to 2017, the Committee on Tactical Combat Casualty Care (CoTCCC) recommended the surgical cricothyrotomy as the definitive airway of choice. More recently, the CoTCCC has recommended the iGel™ as the supraglottic airway (SGA) of choice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The United States (US) military has expanded its area of operations into Africa. This medically immature theater is spread across a large region where prolonged field care (PFC) events are likely to occur. We describe trauma cases reported in the Africa Command (AFRICOM) area of operations to date within the Department of Defense Trauma Registry (DODTR).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction: The current Tactical Combat Casualty Care Guidelines recommend tranexamic acid (TXA) administration for casualties in whom massive blood transfusion is anticipated. However, despite Hextend being the recommended resuscitation fluid, the guidelines recommend against using TXA with Hextend. This appears to be due to a concern about pharmaceutical compatibility, despite the absence of a direct study of compatibility in the literature.
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