Surgery in expeditionary strike group.
There is little published data that quantifies the types of surgical and medical cases encountered during a 6-month West Pacific (WestPac) deployment with naval and marine assets.


METHODS
We report our fleet surgical team case series during a greater than 6-month 2006 WestPac deployment onboard a casualty receiving-and-treatment ship (CRTS) of an expeditionary strike group (ESG), previously known as an amphibious ready group (ARG)-marine expeditionary unit (MEU).


RESULTS
One hundred twenty surgical cases were performed but only 37 cases (31%) were urgent; the remaining 82 cases were elective. Of the urgent surgical cases, only 8 cases (6.7%) required the skills of a general surgeon and none were emergent.


CONCLUSIONS
the role of a surgical team on an ARG-MEU mission must be re-evaluated during the decreasing availability of surgical assets during Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom.
Section of Minimally Invasive Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave., Shapiro TCC-355, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Henry
H
Lin
Anaclato
A
Ancheta
Leo
L
Uzcategui
David
D
Plurad
D002983:Clinical Competence; D006772:Hospitals, Military / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D008887:Military Medicine; D008889:Military Personnel; D008952:Mobile Health Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014218:Triage; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare