Trauma and Acute Care Surgery
Smith E, Shapiro G, Sarani B. Journal of Trauma and Acute Care Surgery 2016; 81(1): 86-92 - doi: 10.1097/TA.0000000000001031
"BACKGROUND: The incidence and severity of civilian public mass shootings (CPMS) continue to rise. Initiatives predicated on lessons learned from military woundings have placed strong emphasis on hemorrhage control, especially via use of tourniquets, as means to improve survival. We hypothesize that both the overall wounding pattern and the specific fatal wounds in CPMS events are different from those in military combat fatalities and thus may require a new management strategy.
CONCLUSION: The overall and fatal wounding patterns following CPMS are different from those resulting from combat operations. Given that no deaths were due to extremity hemorrhage, a treatment strategy that goes beyond use of tourniquets is needed to rescue the few victims with potentially survivable injuries."
