Reconstruction in Warfare Injuries

Traumatic injuries, especially in the combat setting, stress the surgical team that may be sited in a remote forward area, battling against paucity of time, resources and infrastructure. The lone surgeon may be faced with the arduous challenge of saving life. There is seldom thought given to reconstruction in this high-pressure situation. If the patient survives, morbidity for want of reconstruction can be severe and quality of life can suffer significantly. Reconstruction after 3 to 5 days is fraught with complications and usually does compromise outcome in the post-operative phase. The reconstructive surgeon should be involved early in the management as he can provide coverage for large soft tissue defects after aggressive debridement with panache. If the patient is haemodynamically stable, he should be transferred urgently, preferrably by air, to a higher centre with multi-specialty care, especially being equipped with an orthopaedic and trauma reconstructive surgeon. It has been proved beyond doubt that the healing improves significantly and there is marked decrease in morbidity if coverage of wounds is provided early, before colonized wounds get infected.