“Potentially Survivable” Casualties — Reserve to Reduce Pre-Hospital Lethaility in Injuries and Traumas

Battlefield lethality remains the most underexplored problem from the surgical point of view. 540 battle­field fatalities during the military operation in the North Caucasus region of Russia (1994–1996) were ana­lyzed. It was found that 25.4% of all “Killed In Action” refer to the group of potentially survivable. Common causes of combat death in this group were prolonged hemorrhage (78.1%), tension pneumothorax (19.0%), and hemopneumothorax (2.9%). Reducing mortality can be attained due to introduction of new means of control for life-threatening consequences of injuries, improving tactical evacuation, as well as training mili­tary personnel in providing combat lifesaver care.