[War injuries of the extremities. Use of the CMC fixator]

The injuries of the extremities in the military setting, during hostilities, are classified to be the most frequent in general. Among them there are those caused by the missiles from rifles and automatic and semiautomatic weapons and those due to mine and shell fragments. The characteristics of modern array of weapons are missiles of high kinetic energy provoking extensive tissue injuries, often together with fractures of the long bones. When taking care of such fractures, in addition to surgical treatment of the wounds, the administration of medicine and prevention, the immobilization of the fragments is of fundamental significance. All modern armies in the world use external fixators for the immobilization of the fragments, those fixators being the most reliable and the most uncomplicated means of immobilization. The paper presents a new type of the external fixator to be used in war surgery. It is called the CMC fixator (Croatian Medical Corps). The fixator is made according to the original designs in the factory (Instrumentarija) at Zagreb. Following its biomechanic characteristics the fixator is classified into the group of unilateral or joining external fixators. It is designed for fixation of the long bone fractures in the war setting and disaster conditions. It may be used for two purposes: 1. for the transport immobilization to a medical facility where the problem is to be finally solved, 2. as the means of an external immobilization until the final secondary bone-healing. The fixator has only three elements and the universal kee. It is easily applied. The way how to apply this fixator is described in details. The first experiences in the field have given satisfactory results.