Medicine: Abdominal Wounds

Time was when a stomach wound was almost synonymous with a painful and lingering death. In World War I, only 36% of such cases recovered. But the recovery rate for stomach wounds in World War II is 60%. This startling indication of surgical progress was reported in London by Rear Admiral Gordon Gordon-Taylor in a review for the Royal College of Surgeons of the results of 600 operations performed on Dunkirk veterans, R.A.F. men, bombed civilians.

Most belly-rippers in these cases were fragments of bomb casing, sometimes as large as walnuts. Common abdominal injuries...

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