Research Information System
EUROPEAN REVIEW FOR MEDICAL AND PHARMACOLOGICAL SCIENCES, vol.27, no.19, pp.9111-9120, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
OBJECTIVE: The double earth-quakes that occurred on February 6, 2023, are currently called the disaster of the century, in Turkey. This study is the first to report the expe-riences in the treatment of orthopedic emergen-cy patients hospitalized in Adana City Training and Research Hospital (ACH), the largest tertia-ry hospital in the region.PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study in-cluded the retrospective analysis of the files of the victims of the earthquakes admitted to the ACH between February 6, 2023, and February 13, 2023. The age, gender, time of admission, types and localization of injuries, treatment mo-dalities of earthquake victims, and orthopedic surgical treatment data were recorded.RESULTS: In the first week of the quakes, 3,699 patients were admitted to the ER with earthquake-related injuries. A total of 1,092 pa-tients with musculoskeletal injuries were hos-pitalized, and 827 (75.7%) received orthopedic surgery. Surgical procedures included wound debridement under anesthesia (n=392, 47.4%), large bone fractures and/or pelvic ring fractures (n=224, 27.1%), fasciotomies (n=327, 69.1%), and amputations (n=121, 14.6%).CONCLUSIONS: Although Orthopedics and Traumatology Clinic staff have the highest work-load, all hospital personnel should be equipped with basic orthopedic approaches related to the disaster. We believe that taking a more active role in the follow-up of orthopedic patients will help improve the management of the chaotic process-es and increase overall treatment success.