Diagnosis and Minimally Invasive Management of Combat Esophageal Injuries
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Esophageal injury is uncommon in chest trauma, but delayed recognition can rapidly change the patient's prognosis. This lecture combines established trauma algorithms with real-world experience treating combat casualties close to the point of injury.
The discussion covers the diagnostic value and limitations of physical examination, radiography, contrast studies, multislice CT, and flexible endoscopy, with particular attention to reconstructing the projectile trajectory and detecting small penetrating defects that may be clinically subtle.
Several clinical cases demonstrate how stable patients with limited contamination and lower-grade injuries can be selected for minimally invasive treatment. The operative examples include combined endoscopic and laparoscopic assessment, thoracoscopic exploration, foreign-body removal, two-layer esophageal repair, tissue reinforcement, and postoperative contrast control before oral feeding is resumed.
A useful look at how standard trauma principles are adapted to combat esophageal injury—and how careful patient selection can open the door to less invasive surgical strategies.
The discussion covers the diagnostic value and limitations of physical examination, radiography, contrast studies, multislice CT, and flexible endoscopy, with particular attention to reconstructing the projectile trajectory and detecting small penetrating defects that may be clinically subtle.
Several clinical cases demonstrate how stable patients with limited contamination and lower-grade injuries can be selected for minimally invasive treatment. The operative examples include combined endoscopic and laparoscopic assessment, thoracoscopic exploration, foreign-body removal, two-layer esophageal repair, tissue reinforcement, and postoperative contrast control before oral feeding is resumed.
A useful look at how standard trauma principles are adapted to combat esophageal injury—and how careful patient selection can open the door to less invasive surgical strategies.
TRAUMA-03
Course
Critical Care in Combat Trauma: Thoracic Injury, Respiratory Support, and ECMO
01
1:14:04
Portable ECMO for Battlefield Trauma: Bringing Critical Care to the WoundedA lecture on moving extracorporeal life support beyond the ICU and closer to the point of injury. Andriy Bachynskyi discusses portable battery-powered ECMO, trauma physiology, lung-protective support, cannulation, transport and the challenges of using extracorporeal technologies in wounded patients.
02
1:08:27
Combat Trauma of the Heart and Chest: A Cardiovascular Surgeon’s PerspectiveA frontline-focused lecture on severe combat injuries of the heart, lungs and major vessels, with real operative cases, resuscitative thoracotomy, hemorrhage control and decision-making under limited resources.
03
45:12
Respiratory Failure in Combat Trauma: Role 1–Role 2 Principles and MonitoringA practical guide to airway management, mechanical ventilation, capnography, and safe evacuation of combat trauma patients, grounded in real Role 2 experience.
04
39:56
ECMO in Trauma and Critical Care: From Circuit Basics to a Combat Injury CaseA practical introduction to VV- and VA-ECMO: circuit components, cannulation, patient selection, complications, key evidence, and a real combat trauma case with severe ARDS.
05
1:29:00
Combat-Related Heart InjuriesA practical lecture on combat-related cardiac trauma: evacuation priorities, diagnostic pitfalls, operative access, myocardial repair, and the difficult decisions surrounding intracardiac foreign bodies.
06
31:34 Now playing
Diagnosis and Minimally Invasive Management of Combat Esophageal InjuriesA practical review of combat-related esophageal injuries, from early diagnostic suspicion and CT trajectory analysis to endoscopy, thoracoscopy, laparoscopy, and minimally invasive repair in carefully selected patients.
Diagnosis and Minimally Invasive Management of Combat Esophageal Injuries