At War with Frostbite

In 10DEG Korean cold last week, a group of intent men prowled through frontline aid stations asking questions, leafing through records, occasionally taking blood samples from G.I.s on litters. The men were no ordinary medics, but specialists from a 26-man Army-Navy-Air Force Cold Weather Injury Team. Their job is to study current treatments for frostbite and look for new ways of attacking it.

So far, the Army has used two basic treatments. In one--the "let-alone method"--the frostbitten tissue is gently cleaned and dressed loosely. The patient gets 300,000 units of penicillin and an anti-tetanus injection, and is then evacuated to a hospital where he is kept in a room at 78DEG temperature and forbidden to smoke (smoking lowers skin temperature, slows down recovery by hampering circulation in the extremities). The second method follows most of the same rules but adds four injections a day of "frostbite solution"--250 ccs of alcohol, procaine, and, unless the man is wounded, the anticoagulant, heparin, in a 5% solution of glucose and water.

The Pentagon sent its cold-weather team to Korea two months ago, before the first cold casualties began moving back to evacuation points. The team worked out a plan for two members to serve with each of the Army's mobile field hospitals, testing half a dozen new drugs on frostbite cases. At base hospitals, nutritionists are checking soldiers' diets to determine the effect of vitamin C in frostbite recovery. In still other experiments, radar waves are being beamed at frozen arms & legs to find out how deep the injury goes; fluorescent dyes are being injected around frostbitten skin to discover the exact extent of the freeze. Both the radar and dye tests should help a surgeon to decide whether amputation is necessary, and if so, how much must be cut.

Up front, the cold-weather men live in foxholes to find out how frostbite creeps up on troops, and whether the Army's new insulated, gum-rubber shoepacks are working effectively. Special weather stations have been set up to chart temperature, humidity and wind velocity every hour, day & night. The information is checked against the flow of field casualties to determine the exact conditions under which frostbite occurs. Everywhere, team members ask a steady stream of questions: Did your feet perspire? Were you asleep? How were you dressed?

By next June, the cold-weather team hopes to be able to tell the Pentagon, once & for all, the best way to treat frostbite, and how best to prevent it.

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