Hemipelvectomy images of loss caused by war.

As we treat our 230th patient from the Syrian conflict, the pathology we see is more debilitating and the humanitarian needs of the wounded have become even more obvious. This case presents some graphic images of the realities of war. Care in the most advanced units cannot restore broken limbs, let alone broken lives. We present a case of a young war-injured man, who suffered severe crush injury to the pelvis and lower limb, arriving at our medical facility after a delay of hours. The lower limb was shattered from the pelvis down (essentially a traumatic hemipelvectomy). His life had been saved in Syria by ligation of the femoral vessels in an unknown facility by an unknown medical team. On arrival in a centre in Israel for definitive care of an unsalvageable leg, formal hemipelvectomy was performed. 2014 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.