Surgical interventions at field hospitals during the Iran and Iraq War (1980-1987)

Surgical treatment of wounded soldiers in the field began in World War II, and the care of the wounded was aided by air, ground, and marine transportation. Even with highly developed facilities, medical care should be started as soon as possible. The Islamic Republic of Iran was under an economic blockade during its war with Iraq. Field hospitals were considered a solution to the problem of transportation shortages. The aim of this study was to assess the surgical interventions of these hospitals. In a descriptive cross-sectional study, data for 7,718 patients admitted to field hospitals (among a total of 173,823 casualties) were analyzed. A checklist was used as the data-collection tool. The data were entered and analyzed by the Statistical Program for the Social Sciences. The type of surgical intervention, duration of the surgery, and frequency of the interventions in each hospital were examined. Laparotomy was the most common and tracheostomy the least common intervention. Shahid Baghaei Field Hospital had the greatest number of admissions. Of all the patients in the Southern Command District who underwent any kind of surgery, 21.53% were operated on in the complex of field hospitals. The surgery time in these hospitals was 156 +/- 69 minutes (mean +/- SD). A great number of the procedures were lifesaving (including laparotomy and chest tube insertion). It seems that these hospitals played a key role in reducing mortality and morbidity during the war.