Intercontinental aeromedical evacuation of patients with traumatic brain injuries during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom

Abstract

Traumatic brain injury contributes significantly to military combat morbidity and mortality. No longer maintaining comprehensive medical care facilities throughout the world, the US military developed a worldwide trauma care system making the patient the moving part of the system. Life-saving interventions are performed early, and essential care is delivered at forward locations. Patients then proceed successively through increasingly capable levels of care culminating with arrival in the US. Proper patient selection and thorough mission preparation are crucial to the safe and successful intercontinental aeromedical evacuation of critical brain-injured patients during Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom.