Benjamin Starnes (born 1966) is a vascular surgeon and medical researcher. He holds the Alexander Whitehill Clowes Endowed Chair in
Vascular surgery at the
University of Washington.[2] He served as a
U.S. Army surgeon for 15 years, doing three tours of duty, including in the last
M.A.S.H. unit.[3] On the day of the
September 11 attacks he was at the
Pentagon rendering medical aid to victims, and his experience was later recounted in the book American Phoenix: Heroes of the Pentagon on 9/11.[4][5] He is among the primary authors of the official guidelines for diagnosis and management of
aortic disease adopted by the
American College of Cardiology and the
American Heart Association.[6]
After medical school, Starnes joined the U.S. Army. In 1998 and 1999, he was part of
Task Force Hawk, supporting the
NATO and U.S. involvement in the
Kosovo War. Starnes, who became a captain, was stationed in
Albania in the U.S. Army's last M.A.S.H. unit.[12]
Starnes served as a vascular surgery fellow at
Walter Reed Army Medical Center during the September 11 attacks.[13] When
American Airlines Flight 77 crashed into the Pentagon, Starnes provided medical care to the injured.[5] Soon after, Starnes encouraged his brother to write a book about the events. Starnes recounts his experience in the book.[5][13][4]
Starnes completed 15 years of service as an army surgeon and served three tours of duty, including two in Iraq.[3][13]
Starnes later became chief of vascular surgery and professor of surgery at the
University of Washington in
Seattle.[15][16] He holds the Alexander Whitehill Clowes Endowed Chair in Vascular Surgery.[2]
In 2010, Starnes and his colleagues published a study on outcomes of different treatment regimens for hospital patients with ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm, an injury with short-term survival rate of less than 58% in one hospital study.[18] The study found that the survivability rate increases when patients with different injury characterics are placed into corresponding treatment regimens such as
endovascular aneurysm repair, open surgery, or palliative care.[18][19]
In 2012, Starnes was an author of research providing a classification system for patients with
blunt thoracic aortic injuries.[20][21] The system is intended to guide therapy based on probable patient outcomes given the type of injuries.[22][23]
In 2017, Starnes published clinical trial results for an emerging type of treatment for patients with juxtarenal aortic aneurysms. Starnes tested the efficacy of endovascular grafts made by a physician specifically for the patient, instead of grafts manufactured beforehand.[24] The research found that physician-modified grafts were successful long-term for 94% of patients in the trial of 59 people.[25][26]
To develop further guidelines for medical decisions on vascular surgery, Starnes and colleagues in 2018 studied mortality rates of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm hospital patients, examining which factors before surgery predict mortality.[27] He and his colleagues developed a scoring system[27] based on age, systolic blood pressure, and
creatinine concentration values. They found that higher scores predicted low survival rates and thus low benefits of surgery.[28][29]
^
abStarnes, Lincoln M. (May 24, 2022). American Phoenix: Heroes of the Pentagon on 9/11, with a foreword by Benjamin W Starnes. Seattle, WA: Girl Friday Books.
ISBN9781734880243.
^Forman, M. J.; Mirvis, S. E.; Hollander, D. S. (2013). "Blunt thoracic aortic injuries: CT characterisation and treatment outcomes of minor injury". European Radiology. 23 (11): 2988–95.
doi:
10.1007/s00330-013-2904-0.
PMID23722899.
S2CID27189871.
^Nagpal, P.; Mullan, B. F.; Sen, I.; Saboo, S. S.; Khandelwal, A. (2017). "Advances in imaging and management trends of traumatic aortic injuries". CardioVascular and Interventional Radiology. 40 (5): 643–654.
doi:
10.1007/s00270-017-1572-x.
PMID28078377.
S2CID24552422.