Role of ENT Surgeon in Managing Battle Trauma During Deployment

Abstract

With technological improvements in body armour and increasing use of improvised explosive devices, it is the injuries to head, face and neck are the cause for maximum fatalities as military personnel are surviving wounds that would have otherwise been fatal. The priorities of battlefield surgical treatment are to save life, eyesight and limbs and then to give the best functional and aesthetic outcome for other wounds. Modern day battlefields pose unique demands on the deployed surgical teams and management of head and neck wounds demands multispecialty approach. Optimal result will depend on teamwork of head and neck trauma management team, which should also include otolaryngologist. Data collected by various deployed HFN surgical teams is studied and quoted in the article to give factual figures. Otorhinolaryngology becomes a crucial sub-speciality in the care of the injured and military otorhinolaryngologists need to be trained and deployed accordingly. The otolaryngologist's clinical knowledge base and surgical domain allows the ENT surgeon to uniquely contribute in response to mass casualty incident. Military planners need to recognize the felt need and respond by deploying teams of specialist head and neck surgeons which should also include otorhinolaryngologists.