Incidence and epidemiology of casualties treated at the Dutch role 2 enhanced medical treatment facility at multi national base Tarin Kowt, Afghanistan in the period 2006-2010.

BACKGROUND: To improve care for the injured service member, we have analyzed battle casualty patterns and mechanisms. This study is the first documented report of wounding patterns and mechanisms of battle casualties treated at the Dutch role 2 enhanced medical treatment facility at the multi-national base Tarin Kowt, Uruzgan, Afghanistan.
METHODS: Participants were selected from the trauma registry at the Dutch role 2 enhanced medical treatment facility if they fitted the criteria 'battle casualty' and 'disease non-battle injury' between August 2006 and August 2010.
RESULTS: The trauma registry query resulted in 2,736 casualties, of which 60 % (N = 1,635) were classified as 'disease non-battle casualties' and 40 % (N = 1,101) as 'battle casualties'. The battle casualties sustained 1,617 combat wounds, resulting in 1.6 wounds per battle casualty. These injuries were predominately caused by explosions (55 %) and gunshots (35 %). The wounding pattern was as follows: head and neck (21 %), thorax (13 %), abdomen (14 %), upper extremity (20 %), and lower extremity (33 %).
CONCLUSIONS: The wounding patterns seen at the Dutch role 2 enhanced medical treatment facility at the multi-national base Tarin Kowt resemble the patterns as recorded by other coalition partners. The wounding patterns differ with previous conflicts: a greater proportion of head and neck wounds, and a lower proportion of truncal wounds.