The Israeli mission to the 2023 Armenian burn mass casualty incident – Lessons learned

IF 3.2 3区医学 Q2 CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE

Burns Pub Date : 2025-05-22 DOI:10.1016/j.burns.2025.107558

Adi Maisel Lotan , Ofer Merin , Yaron Shoham , Ronen Toledano , David Ben Ari , Muhamad Jaber , Rachel Havivi , Eliran Jacobi , Subhi Hakrush , Michael Dubilet , Ron Gal , Yasin Mamdoh , Shai Schul , Njde Hambarchian , Greta Harutyunyan , Yoav Gronovich

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Abstract

Background

The Israeli mission to Armenia was deployed to assist in a mass casualty burn incident caused by an explosion in Nagorno-Karabakh County, Armenia. The explosion caused over 220 deaths and approximately 300 injured. The objective of this manuscript is to report the lessons learned from this mission.

Methods

An advance team of plastic surgeons was deployed to Armenia to assess local needs in preparation for the arrival of international mission groups: the quantity and location of patients, severity of injuries and availability of surgical and medical supplies. This team was to operate alongside other international burn teams.

Results

Patients were evacuated to local hospitals. Over 200 patients were hospitalized in five centers in Yerevan, including about half in the National Burn Center. Our teams performed forty-two surgeries in four days including debridement of burns, dressing changes and reconstructions with skin grafts and dermal substitutes. Finally, we helped define goals for future teams with stress on patient care and rehabilitation.

Conclusion

Burns require prolonged multidisciplinary treatment and resources. Facing a mass casualty event, it is important to prepare ahead, define relevant needs and make a game plan according to which patients will receive the best possible care relative to the situation.

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以色列对2023年亚美尼亚烧伤大规模伤亡事件的任务-吸取教训

以色列派往亚美尼亚的特派团是为了协助处理在亚美尼亚纳戈尔诺-卡拉巴赫县发生的一起爆炸造成的大规模烧伤事件。爆炸造成220多人死亡，约300人受伤。这份手稿的目的是报告从这次任务中吸取的教训。方法向亚美尼亚部署了一个整形外科先遣队，以评估当地的需求，为国际特派团的到来做准备：病人的数量和地点、受伤的严重程度以及手术和医疗用品的供应情况。这个小组将与其他国际烧伤小组一起工作。结果患者均被转移至当地医院。超过200名患者在埃里温的五个中心住院，其中约一半在国家烧伤中心。我们的团队在4天内完成了42例手术，包括烧伤清创、换药、皮肤移植和真皮替代品重建。最后，我们帮助确定了未来团队在病人护理和康复方面的目标。结论烧伤需要长期的多学科治疗和资源。面对大规模伤亡事件，重要的是要提前做好准备，确定相关需求，并根据患者将获得最佳护理的情况制定对策。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

Burns 医学-皮肤病学

CiteScore

4.50

自引率

18.50%

发文量

304

审稿时长

72 days

期刊介绍： Burns aims to foster the exchange of information among all engaged in preventing and treating the effects of burns. The journal focuses on clinical, scientific and social aspects of these injuries and covers the prevention of the injury, the epidemiology of such injuries and all aspects of treatment including development of new techniques and technologies and verification of existing ones. Regular features include clinical and scientific papers, state of the art reviews and descriptions of burn-care in practice. Topics covered by Burns include: the effects of smoke on man and animals, their tissues and cells; the responses to and treatment of patients and animals with chemical injuries to the skin; the biological and clinical effects of cold injuries; surgical techniques which are, or may be relevant to the treatment of burned patients during the acute or reconstructive phase following injury; well controlled laboratory studies of the effectiveness of anti-microbial agents on infection and new materials on scarring and healing; inflammatory responses to injury, effectiveness of related agents and other compounds used to modify the physiological and cellular responses to the injury; experimental studies of burns and the outcome of burn wound healing; regenerative medicine concerning the skin.