Invited Commentary

Commentary on “Incidence of Pediatric Cervical Spine Injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan”

Authors: LTC Wendy J. Wilcoxson, DO, USAF, MC

Abstract

In 2003, Colonel John B. Holcomb, a US Army general surgeon deployed to Iraq, noted the complete disconnect between the various steps of trauma care for his patients and recognized the critical need for an organized trauma care system.1 The result of this realization was the creation in 2004 of the Joint Trauma System (JTS), now recognized as the US Department of Defense (DoD) Center of Excellence for Trauma. The DoD Trauma Registry, the source of the data used for the article by Gutierrez and colleagues in this issue of the Southern Medical Journal,2 is managed by the JTS.

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References

1. Joint Trauma System: The Department of Defense Center of Excellence for Trauma. History. May 3, 2018. https://jts.amedd.army.mil/index.cfm/about/origins. Accessed February 12, 2019.
2. Gutierrez X, April M, Maddry J, et al. Incidence of pediatric cervical spine injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. South Med J 2019;112:271-275.
3. Joint Trauma System: the Department of Defense Center of Excellence for Trauma. JTS Media Literature: JTS Corporate Brochure. https://jts.amedd.army.mil/assets/docs/JTS-brochure.pdf. Published May 3, 2018. Accessed February 12, 2019.
4. Joint Trauma System: the Department of Defense Center of Excellence for Trauma. Clinical practice guidelines. https://jts.amedd.army.mil/index.cfm/PI_CPGs/cpgs. Published May 3, 2018. Accessed February 12, 2019.
5. Leonard JR, Jaffe DM, Kuppermann N, et al. Cervical spine injury patterns in children. Pediatrics 2014;133:e1179-e1188.