WW1 surgeons could do little for amputees’ pain – and treatment remains a challenge

WW1Professor Andrew Rice from the section of Anaesthetics, Pain Medicine and Intensive Care has collaborated with historian Dr Emily Mayhew and army surgeon Major Dafydd Edwards in a paper published in The Lancet on Friday, looking at how WW1 surgeons could do little for amputees’ pain and how treatment still remains a challenge.

Army doctors in the First World War were helpless to stop soldiers who lost limbs from suffering in pain, according to researchers. A century on, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) have made the loss of limbs common among military casualties once again, but while prosthetic technology has improved dramatically, there is still a shortage of effective treatments for pain caused by damaged nerves.

Read more on this in the College article.

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