PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tien, Abigail
AU  - Beckett, Lt.-Col. Andrew
AU  - Pannell, Maj. Dylan
TI  - The University of Toronto’s lasting contribution to war surgery: how Maj. L. Bruce Robertson fundamentally transformed thinking toward blood transfusion during the First World War
AID  - 10.1503/cjs.006317
DP  - 2017 Jun 01
TA  - Canadian Journal of Surgery
PG  - 152--154
VI  - 60
IP  - 3
4099  - http://canjsurg.ca/content/60/3/152.short
4100  - http://canjsurg.ca/content/60/3/152.full
SO  - CAN J SURG2017 Jun 01; 60
AB  - During the Great War, Canadian military surgeons produced some of the greatest innovations to improve survival on the battlefield. Arguably, the most important was bringing blood transfusion practice close to the edge of the battlefield to resuscitate the many casualties dying of hemorrhagic shock. Dr. L. Bruce Robertson of the Canadian Army Medical Corps was the pioneering surgeon from the University of Toronto who was able to demonstrate the benefit of blood transfusions near the front line and counter the belief that saline was the resuscitation fluid of choice in military medicine. Robertson would go on to survive the Great War, but would be taken early in life by influenza. Despite his life and career being cut short, Robertson’s work is still carried on today by many military medical organizations who strive to bring blood to the wounded in austere and dangerous settings. This article has an Appendix, available at canjsurg.ca