Crush injury and crush syndrome: a consensus statement.

Crush syndrome remains rare in European practice but is common in areas of civil disorder and where society has given way to civil war or natural disaster. Clinicians in the west are becoming increasingly involved in such situations and there is no reason to believe that the few instances due to conventional causes, such as an elderly person collapsing or road traffic accidents, will cease. Therefore, it is important that clinicians who deal rarely with crush syndrome have access to appropriate guidelines. This consensus report seeks to provide such advice.