Scope of wounds

The scope of extremity wounds in the current conflict presents surgeons with new lessons to master. Unique to this conflict is a new type of patient, one with multiple and severely injured extremities who is otherwise free of serious injury. These injuries provide challenges to the medical system in terms of the volume and complexity of care, and to the patient and surgeon trying to achieve limb salvage and rehabilitation. These patients present with a combination of high-energy injury, massive evolving tissue destruction, and widespread contamination, resulting in an evolving zone of injury that respects no tissue planes, anatomic boundaries, or normal physiologic rules. We must ensure that our skills and techniques as surgeons evolve faster than do the injuries themselves.