MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Vivian Mcalister, M.B., CCFP(C), FRCSC, FRCS(I), FACS Professor - Department of Surgery London Health Sciences Centre University Hospital London, Ontario, Canada MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: This study was performed by medical and nursing officers who were all deployed to the war zone. We were deeply concerned about the type of injuries we were seeing. They were more awful than any we had seen before. We were familiar with reviews of antipersonnel landmine injuries that were reported by Red Cross surgeons in the 1990s. The injuries that we were dealing with were from antipersonnel IEDs more than landmines. We decided to do a formal prospective study for two reasons: first was to carefully describe the pattern of injury so we could develop new medical strategies, if possible, to help victims. The second reason was to catalogue these injuries so we could impartially and scientifically report what we were witnessing. (more…)