Vascular Surgeon Treats Soldiers Injured in Iraq, Afghanistan
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| Dr. Patrick Geraghty | Patrick Geraghty, M.D., an associate professor of vascular surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., has volunteered to fill a slot in the surgery rotation of Landstuhl Regional Medical Center at Ramstein Air Force Base in Germany where many of the soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are treated.
Geraghty will volunteer January 3-18, 2009. He joins 51 other members of the Society for Vascular Surgery (SVS) in relieving the limited number of vascular surgeons in the military who are filling positions in military hospitals in the United States and internationally.
“Our members understand how important expert surgeons are to the military in saving the lives and limbs of these young military heroes,” said K. Wayne Johnston, SVS past president. “We were contacted by SVS member, retired Col. David Gillespie, who at the time was the vascular surgery consultant, Office of the U.S. Army Surgeon General and a professor of surgery at Walter Reed Medical Center, and our members quickly responded. I am proud to represent a specialty that unselfishly contributes where they are needed.”
Injuries incurred in the Iraq war are unique in that they include blast injuries from IEDs (improvised explosive devise) and high-velocity injuries from crashes. Vascular surgeons repair the damaged arteries and veins that are injured as a result of the IEDs by using both minimally invasive and open surgery.
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