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General Orthopaedics

The 2011 Norway attack

The South African Orthopaedic Association (SAOA) 58th Annual Congress



Abstract

Background

On 22 July 2011 Norway was subjected to two terrorist attacks by a right-wing extremist. The first attack was an explosion from a car bomb against the Government Building (GB) in Oslo. The second attack occurred less than two hours later at a summer camp on the island Utøya, outside Oslo, where 600–700 young members of the Labour Party hold their annual summer camp. The car bomb killed 8 people and 69 persons were shot and killed at Utøya. All seriously injured patients came to Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål (OUH).

Purpose

The purpose of the talk is to describe the incident and the injuries at OUH from an orthopaedic perspective.

Material and methods

The first 2 patients from the GB came to OUH after 30 minutes. In total 31 patients were admitted to OUH; 25 patients on the first day and 6 patients over the next 2 days from other hospitals. 85 patients were treated as outpatients and 37 patients, mainly light trauma, were treated at other hospitals.

Results

The orthopaedic surgeons were involved in the treatment of 70% of the patients. The mean age for the patients from respectively the GB and Utøya were 33 and 18 years. The ISS were respectively 26 and 22 for the orthopaedic patients. All, except one patient had GCS 15. Probability of Survival for the orthopaedic patients from the GB patients was 77 (27–100) and 92 (28–100) for the Utøya patients. 4 patients were amputated or disarticulated in major joints. 7 patents had nerve injury. All orthopaedic patients survived.

Conclusion

The orthopaedic surgeon is important in a setting like this where a huge number of patients have orthopaedic injuries and are treated for weeks. Most of the injuries needed multiple revisions.

NO DISCLOSURES