Fluid resuscitation strategies in the Israeli army

Medical training in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is currently based on the principles of the Advanced Trauma Life Support course of the American College of Surgeons termed Military Trauma Life Support. The Advanced Trauma Life Support guidelines provide a systematic standardized approach to the treatment of trauma casualties that has been very successful in civilian trauma. On the battlefield, however, these guidelines have been modified according to the combat environment. The factors that influence these changes are tactical considerations, availability and level of training of medical personal, direct enemy fire, medical equipment limitations, means of transportation of casualties, and the variable transportation time from the front line to the first medical echelon. The basic strategy of the IDF is to bring the military physician or paramedic and airlifted surgical units as close as possible to the front line, to minimize evacuation time. Also, evacuation helicopters that land in the combat zone close to the front line, sometimes under direct fire, usually have a military physician on board. The dilemma of "scoop and run" or "stay and stabilize" in hemorrhagic shock has been solved in the IDF toward early rapid evacuation of casualties to a surgical unit. Immediately after airway and breathing have been secured, if evacuation time is less than 1 hour, the intravenous line and fluid resuscitation is started en route to the medical facility. When evacuation time is longer than 1 hour, an intravenous line is always started before evacuation. In controlled hemorrhagic shock, where the source of bleeding has been controlled and evacuation time is less than 1 hour, fluid resuscitation with lactated Ringer's solution or normal saline is started, to achieve normalization of hemodynamic parameters. When evacuation time exceeds 60 minutes, colloids such as Hemaccel or hydroxyethyl starch are added. In uncontrolled hemorrhagic shock, where internal bleeding has temporarily stopped because of hypotension, vasoconstriction, and thrombus formation, aggressive fluid resuscitation with lactated Ringer's solution to achieve normal hemodynamic parameters is prohibited, because it may induce internal rebleeding and hemodynamic decompensation. When evacuation time exceeds 60 minutes, the use of crystalloids and colloids is indicated. If brain injury is suspected, fluid resuscitation should be aimed toward normalization of hemodynamic parameters.