A century of British military neurosurgery

Abstract

At the time of the Boer War in 1899 penetrating head injuries, which formed a large proportion of the battlefield casualties, resulted in almost 100% mortality. Since that time up to the present day, significant improvements in technique, equipment and organisation have reduced the mortality to about 10%.

St Hugh’s Military Hospital (Head Injuries), Oxford 1940-1945

“…several authors have written about st hugh's when describing hugh Cairns, an australian neurosurgeon, his associates and the development of neurosurgery during the second World War. [1][2][3][4][5] they concentrated on the surgical aspect of treatment at st hugh's. trevor hughes documented Cairns' innovative mobile neurosurgical units (mnsUs) and his research on motorcycle accidents which led to the use of protective crash helmets.…”