Military/Veterans

Agent Orange linked to skin cancer risk, reports Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
Vietnam War veterans with prior exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange may be at higher risk for certain types of skin cancer, suggests a report in the February issue of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery®, the official medical journal of the American Society of Plastic Surgeons (ASPS).

The study adds to previous evidence that risk of non-melanotic invasive skin cancer (NMISC) is increased even four decades after Agent Orange exposure, with at least some exposed veterans having unusually aggressive non-melanoma skin cancers. The lead author was ASPS Member Surgeon Dr. Mark W. Clemens of The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and colleagues. Eurekalert!

Impact of battlefield-related genitourinary injuries described in Journal of Men's Health
Modern combat and the global war on terror, with increased use of improvised explosive devices, have led to a nearly 350% increased rate of genitourinary injuries. The often debilitating long-term sexual, psychological, fertility, and hormonal effects of these traumatic wounds and the need for new coordinated approaches to care are the focus of a Review article and Guest Editorial in Journal of Men's Health, a peer-reviewed publication from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The articles are available free on the Journal of Men's Health website.

The Review "Genitourinary Trauma in the Modern Era of Warfare" discusses why battlefield genitourinary injuries have increased so dramatically in recent years and how they have changed. The article is coauthored by Justin Han, MD and Chris Gonzalez, MD, MBA, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and Jesse Brown Veterans Affairs Medical Center (Chicago, IL), and Mark Edney, MD, Peninsula Urology Associates (Salisbury, MD) and Lieutenant Colonel, U.S. Army Reserve, 48th Combat Support Hospital (Ft. Meade, MD). Eurekalert!

Lighting up in uniform
s it possible to predict which soldier will start smoking and which one will maybe quit? Yes, says Christopher B. Harte of the Veterans Affairs Boston Healthcare System and Boston University School of Medicine in the US, especially when factors such as alcohol use, gender, a soldier’s rank, war zone stressors and unit support are considered. A new study¹ led by Harte, published in the Springer journal Annals of Behavioral Medicine², looks at smoking behavior in the military. Springer