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New Zealand Medical Services in Middle East and Italy

Work of a Forward Surgical Team

Work of a Forward Surgical Team

The range of work undertaken by the forward surgical teams is illustrated by the records of 1 NZ General Hospital surgical team during December.

page 514

Operations performed: total operations 78; evacuated 55; still in MDS 6; died 17.

Type of case: abdomen 34; head 2 (both also abdomens); spine 1; chest 12; urethra 2; amputations 7; compound fractures 24; joints 7; facio-maxillary 3; flesh wounds 21.

Nearly all the abdominal cases were dealt with by this team and all were operated on. Three cases of gas gangrene were seen, and in two other cases infection appeared and caused death later, after evacuation. The necessity for more thorough excision of the wounds was realised, as infection of wounds was more prevalent than it was in the desert campaigns. Post-operative chest complications were common, probably due to the high incidence of upper respiratory infections at that time.

In January 33 operations were performed, 11 being abdomens. There were 6 deaths.