Advertisement for orthosearch.org.uk
Results 1 - 5 of 5
Results per page:
Bone & Joint 360
Vol. 8, Issue 4 | Pages 5 - 13
1 Aug 2019
Middleton R Khan T Alvand A


Bone & Joint 360
Vol. 8, Issue 2 | Pages 2 - 8
1 Apr 2019
Shivji F Bryson D Nicolaou N Ali F


Bone & Joint 360
Vol. 8, Issue 1 | Pages 3 - 7
1 Feb 2019
Eames N Golash A Birch N


Bone & Joint 360
Vol. 5, Issue 6 | Pages 8 - 12
1 Dec 2016
Kumar KHS Lawrence JE Khanduja V


Bone & Joint 360
Vol. 2, Issue 5 | Pages 2 - 7
1 Oct 2013
Penn-Barwell JG Rowlands TK

Blast and ballistic weapons used on the battlefield cause devastating injuries rarely seen outside armed conflict. These extremely high-energy injuries predominantly affect the limbs and are usually heavily contaminated with soil, foliage, clothing and even tissue from other casualties. Once life-threatening haemorrhage has been addressed, the military surgeon’s priority is to control infection.

Combining historical knowledge from previous conflicts with more recent experience has resulted in a systematic approach to these injuries. Urgent debridement of necrotic and severely contaminated tissue, irrigation and local and systemic antibiotics are the basis of management. These principles have resulted in successful healing of previously unsurvivable wounds. Healthy tissue must be retained for future reconstruction, vulnerable but viable tissue protected to allow survival and avascular tissue removed with all contamination.

While recent technological and scientific advances have offered some advantages, they must be judged in the context of a hard-won historical knowledge of these wounds. This approach is applicable to comparable civilian injury patterns. One of the few potential benefits of war is the associated improvement in our understanding of treating the severely injured; for this positive effect to be realised these experiences must be shared.