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Overview of Blast Injury

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Operational and Medical Management of Explosive and Blast Incidents

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Abstract

Blast incidents and the resulting trauma are serious health threats. Blast incidents occur in military conflict, from both military and improvised munitions. Acts involving bombings and explosions are by far the most common types of terrorist acts. Blast injuries also result from nonintentional events, such as industrial explosions. Although blast incidents are rare outside of areas of military or social conflict, when they occur, the scale, in terms of number and types of injuries, can range from mild to catastrophic. This chapter briefly reviews the various types of injuries that result from blast trauma, introduces the settings in which blast injuries occur and the epidemiology of blast injuries in different settings, and provides a summary of health preparedness and response strategies for incidents involving blast trauma. These topics will be expanded upon in subsequent chapters.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. RADM (Ret), US Public Health Service, Duluth, GA, USA

    Scott D. Deitchman

  2. Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, National Center for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Duluth, GA, USA

    Scott D. Deitchman

  3. Israel Defense Forces, Yehud, Israel

    Isaac Ashkenazi

  4. International Expert for Disaster Management & Crisis Leadership, Faculty of Health Sciences, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Yehud, Israel

    Isaac Ashkenazi

  5. Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Isaac Ashkenazi

  6. Environmental Health, Emory University, Rollins School of Public Health, Atlanta, GA, USA

    Henry Falk

Authors
  1. Scott D. Deitchman
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Carolinas Medical Center, Charlotte, NC, USA

    David W. Callaway

  2. Harvard Medical School, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

    Jonathan L. Burstein

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Deitchman, S.D., Ashkenazi, I., Falk, H. (2020). Overview of Blast Injury. In: Callaway, D., Burstein, J. (eds) Operational and Medical Management of Explosive and Blast Incidents. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40655-4_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40655-4_1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

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