The Pentagon and 9/11

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to review and discuss the medical response to the Pentagon attack on September 11, 2001. DESIGN: The authors conducted a retrospective review of hospital records and emergency agency report. SETTING: This study was conducted at an adult tertiary hospital with regional burn and trauma centers. INTERVENTIONS: Observational. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-nine persons lost their lives. Area health facilities received 106 patients; 49 were admitted for treatments and 57 were treated and released. Nine patients were admitted to the burn center. The average total body burn surface was 34%. The average age was 45 yrs. A total of 108 operations were performed. The average burn critical care and hospital length of stays were 31 and 61.7 days, respectively. One patient died of an inhalation injury on day 7. CONCLUSIONS: The Pentagon attack produced few severely injured patients. The regional hospitals were back to normal function the day after. The severely burned patients increased the workload of the burn service but did not affect admissions of subsequent non-Pentagon patients after the second day. In case of a much larger number of critically injured patients, regional to national cooperation and transfer of patients should be considered.