Antecedentes de las curas en ambiente húmedo (CAH): El "método español" de tratamiento de heridas de guerra y el Hospital Sueco-Noruego de Alcoy

Abstract

During the Spanish Civil War, a hospital of blood is installed in Alcoy. This was posible thanks to the solidarity of Swedish and Norwegian people. Medical and specialized nursing staff were sent by the Scandinavians, with all the necesary material, to install a hospital to see war wounded. Dr. D. Manuel Bastos Ansart was the surgical chief when the scandinavians left Alcoy. He was the best surgeon, traumatologist and militar orthopedist at that moment, and an authority on the treatment of war wounds. Dr. Bastos along with Dr. D. Josep Tueta i Raspall were the parents of the occlusive method of cures, base and foundation of the current cures in moist enviroment. Thanks to the "Spanish Method"a lot of amputations and death from sepsis caused by war wounds, were avoidded. This type of cure was born as the result of the sum of different techniques and treatments of some surgeons during a long period of time. The "Spanish Method" consisted of cleanig deeply the wound and the excision of the death tissue, applying then a dressing of plaster that should be retained without changing it, the maximun posible time (if the patient hadn't got any complication). During the Second World War and when the Spanish Civil War was over, Dr. Trueta was the one who improved and reported the method between the allies. Even today, it's still the chosen method for treating wounds and open fractures of war.