The development of military medical care for peripheral nerve injuries during World War I

Abstract

Although the clinical and electrical diagnoses and treatments of peripheral nerve injuries (PNIs) had been described prior to World War I, many reports were fragmented and incomplete. Individual physicians' experiences were not extensive, and in 1914 the patient with a PNI remained a subject of medical curiosity, and was hardly a focus of comprehensive care. World War I altered these conditions; casualties with septic wounds and PNIs swamped the general hospitals. By 1915, specialized hospitals or wards were developed to care for neurological injuries. In the United Kingdom, Sir Robert Jones developed the concept of Military Orthopedic Centres, with coordinated specialized care and rehabilitation. Military appointments of neurologists and electrotherapists sharpened clinical diagnoses and examinations. Surgical techniques were introduced, then discarded or accepted as surgeons developed skills to meet the new conditions. The US Surgeon General, William Gorgas, and his consultant in neurosurgery, Charles Frazier, went a step further, with the organization of a research laboratory as well as the establishment of a Peripheral Nerve Commission and Registry. Despite these developments and good intentions, postwar follow-up for PNIs remained incomplete at best. Records were lost, personnel transferred, and patients discharged from the system. The lack of a standardized grading system seriously impaired the ability to record clinical changes and compare outcomes. Nevertheless, specialized treatment of a large number of PNIs during World War I established a foundation for comprehensive care that influenced military medical services in the next world war.