Incidence and severity of maxillofacial injuries during the Second Lebanon War among Israeli soldiers and civilians.
OBJECTIVE
To analyze the incidence and severity of maxillofacial injuries in the Second Lebanon War, that occurred during the summer of 2006, among Israeli soldiers and civilians.


METHODS
This is a retrospective cohort study of patients recorded in the Israel National Trauma Registry during the Second Lebanon War. Data refer to all general hospitals throughout the country. Data were analyzed according to the etiology of the injury, severity of trauma using the Injury Severity Score, trauma location, and duration of hospital stay. Cases with multiple injuries that included maxillofacial injuries were separated and further analyzed according to the above parameters. Patients with only dental injuries and superficial facial soft tissue lacerations were excluded because they were referred to the military dental clinics and not to general hospitals.


RESULTS
Maxillofacial injuries were found in 36 (6.4%) of the 565 wounded. Patients with maxillofacial injuries ranged in age from 20 to 44 years (mean age, 25.5 +/- 5.7 years). Greater than 50% of the injuries required more than 3 hospitalization days. Mortality rate of the maxillofacial injured was 2.8%. Most of the maxillofacial injuries (33; 91.7%) were combined with other organ injuries; 9 (25%) patients also had dental injuries.


CONCLUSIONS
In the Second Lebanon War, the incidence and severity of true maxillofacial injuries, without dental injuries alone, were relatively low compared with previous reports of other conflicts. However, because most injuries involved multiple organs, special attention is required when planning and providing emergency, as well as secondary and tertiary medical care to war wounded.
Levin
Liran
L
Department of Oral Rehabilitation, The Maurice and Gabriela Goldschleger School of Dental Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, Israel.
Zadik
Yehuda
Y
Peleg
Kobi
K
Bigman
Galya
G
Givon
Adi
A
Lin
Shaul
S
D000328:Adult; D015331:Cohort Studies; D017052:Hospital Mortality; D006760:Hospitalization / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D007557:Israel / Q000453:epidemiology; D007861:Lebanon; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008297:Male; D008437:Maxilla / Q000293:injuries; D008446:Maxillofacial Injuries / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000401:mortality; D008889:Military Personnel / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000453:epidemiology; D009666:Nose / Q000293:injuries; D009915:Orbit / Q000293:injuries; D012042:Registries; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D015996:Survival Rate; D014857:Warfare; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000453:epidemiology; D014950:Wounds, Penetrating / Q000453:epidemiology