title: Surgical response to the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mumbai, the financial capital of India, was attacked by terrorists at various famous, densely populated places on 26 November 2008. The attack lasted for 60 h, resulting in multiple civilian casualties from bullet and blast injuries. The aim was to review the disaster management plan and analyse the injury patterns and surgical response.
  
  
  METHODS
  The disaster management plan was activated in the Sir Jamshetjee Jejeebhoy Group of Hospitals as soon as the earliest casualties were reported. The casualty receiving area was converted into a triage zone; patients were accordingly sent to different stations for further management. There was rotation of the duties of the medical personnel every 8 h for increased efficiency.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 271 casualties were encountered, of which 108 were dead at admission. Some 163 patients were triaged, 23 of whom received primary care as outpatients. The remaining 140 patients needed admission to hospital; 194 operations were performed in 127 patients. There were six postoperative deaths.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This was a unique terrorist attack targeted on civilians and continuing for more than 2 days. The casualties consisted of military injuries due to combined firearm and blast trauma. Primary triage, or onsite triage once the site is safe, optimizes management.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Grant Medical College and Sir Jamshetjee Jejeebhoy Group of Hospitals, Mumbai, India. abhandarwar@yahoo.com
authors.forename: A H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Bhandarwar
authors.forename: G D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Bakhshi
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Tayade
authors.forename: A D
authors.initials: AD
authors.lastname: Borisa
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Thadeshwar
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Gandhi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001753:Blast Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D004189:Disaster Planning / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration; D005107:Explosions; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007194:India / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D054527:Mass Casualty Incidents / Q000401:mortality / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D014218:Triage / Q000379:methods; D014948:Wounds, Gunshot / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D055815:Young Adult