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.
Lin
Henry
H
Section of Minimally Invasive Surgery, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, 330 Brookline Ave., Shapiro TCC-355, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Ancheta
Anaclato
A
Uzcategui
Leo
L
Plurad
David
D
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