Medical Management of Radiological Casualties

xiii, [1], 147, [3] pages. Illustrations. Fold-outs. Index. Cover has slight wear and soiling. This is AFRRI Special Publication 03-1. Medical defense against radiological warfare is one of the least emphasized segments of modern medical education. Forty years of nuclear-doomsday predictions made any realistic preparation for radiation casualty management an untenable political consideration. The end of the Cold War has dramatically reduced the likelihood of strategic nuclear weapons use and thermonuclear war. Unfortunately, the proliferation of nuclear material and technology has made the acquisition and adversarial use of ionizing radiation weapons more probable than ever. In the modern era, military personnel and their nation's population will expect that a full range of medical modalities will be employed to decrease the morbidity and mortality from the use of these weapons. Fortunately, treatment of radiation casualties is both effective and practical.