Military Orthopaedic Wound Management and Amputee Care Best Practices Established

Military Orthopaedic Wound Management and Amputee Care Best Practices Established

Extremity War Injuries Symposium publication prioritizes combat-related musculoskeletal research.
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB via PRWeb) October 5, 2006 -- Today the number of American soldiers wounded in action in Iraq and Afghanistan exceeds 9,700. This is a different kind of war, and so are the wounds it creates. More than 50 percent of the wounded have suffered musculoskeletal injuries, many made more challenging by the effects of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) or vehicle-borne improvised explosive devises (VBIEDs), which are distinct from domestic injuries. Traditional wound management guidelines simply fall short.
Helvetica, sans-serif; TEXT-DECORATION: none" href="http://www.jaaos.org./" alt="Link to website">Our military counterparts are doing an outstanding job of treating these severe injuries, and we need to help them by directing research to provide them with some answers about how to better manage these injuries as soon as possible. To address this need, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) have issued a special edition of the Journal of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons: "Extremity War Injuries: State of the Art and Future Directions."