TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2019//
TI  - Fixed wing tactical aircraft for air medical evacuation in Sahel
JO  - Air Medical Journal
A1  - Guénot, Pierre
A1  - Beauchamps, Vincent
A1  - Madec, Samuel
A1  - Carfantan, Cyril
A1  - Boutonnet, Mathieu
A1  - Bareau, Laura
A1  - Romain, Hélène
A1  - Travers, Stéphane
SP  - 350
EP  - 355
VL  - 38
IS  - 5
N2  - OBJECTIVE: The medical support of military operations over a 5 million km<sup>2</sup> area in the Sahel-Saharan strip has justified the use of a medical fixed wing aircraft. Two CASA CN 235 aircraft currently perform medical evacuation (medevac) from the point of injury to forward surgical structures and then to the international airport before strategic medevac to France. <br><br>METHODS: A retrospective observational study including all flights performed from January 2013 to December 2017 by the medical CASA located in Mali. <br><br>RESULTS: Three thousand three flight hours were achieved. Four hundred twenty-four medevacs were performed for 898 patients. Seventy-five percent were evacuated from forward surgical structures. Their initial categorization included 10% Alpha, 23% Bravo, and 67% Charlie. Mechanical ventilation was performed for 5%; 34.5% had common medical or surgical pathologies, 34.2% were combat casualties mostly by explosion, and 18.7% were nonbattle injuries. No difficulties related to the aeronautical environment were reported by the teams. <br><br>CONCLUSION: Tactical medevac with fixed wing aircraft has become a crucial link in the French medical evacuation chain in remote areas. Military emergency medical teams were able to provide in-flight intensive care before and after damage control surgery. <br><br>DISCUSSIONs are underway to consider possible doctrinal and logistical evolutions.<br><br>Copyright © 2019 Air Medical Journal Associates. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1067-991X
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.amj.2019.05.007
ID  - ref1
ER  -