Anthony
Rankin, MD, AAOS Second Vice President; David N. Tornberg, MD, MPH,
Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Clinical Program Policy;
Lt. Gen. James Roudebush, U.S. Air Force Surgeon General; Richard Kyle,
MD, AAOS President; Andrew Pollak, MD, EWI II Co-Chair; James Beaty,
MD, AAOS First Vice President; and Col. James Ficke, MD, EWI II Co-Chair.
Courtesy Erin Ransford
In Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, surgeons
struggle with infection, bone and tissue healing, and rehabilitation.
In January 2006, a symposium, Extremity War Injuries: State of
the Art and Future Directions (EWI), was convened to
define current knowledge of the management of extremity war injuries.
In collaboration with professional organizations, orthopaedic industry
sponsors, government agencies, extremity wound care experts, and research
grant agencies, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS)
and the Orthopaedic Trauma Association (OTA) cosponsored the symposium.
Symposium sessions featured panels of military and civilian experts
and included international participants from Iraq, Israel, Canada,
the United Kingdom, and Serbia and Montenegro.
Advances in techniques and treatments developed for wartime injuries
will be used in managing civilian trauma and medical complications.
The symposium addressed such issues as wound management, antibiotics
and infection, long-bone stabilization, management of segmental bone
defects, and amputee care. New techniques have already led to quicker
recovery times from blast injuries, better response rates to infection,
and new advances in amputee care.
In September 2006, the Journal of the American Academy of
Orthopaedic Surgeons published a supplemental issue that
provides information on the many facets of combat orthopaedics. The
scope of wounds from the global war on terrorism is addressed in detail,
as well as the definitive treatment of combat casualties. Trauma care
and research are illustrated from the perspectives of an
Iraqi and an American orthopaedic military surgeon.
For more information or to access the full supplement, visit
the Journal of American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeon’s website
at www.jaaos.org.
Pollack AN, Calhoun JH: Introduction . J Am Acad Orthop Surg
2006 14: viii0.
Noe A: Extremity Injury in War: A Brief History. J Am
Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S1-S6.
Pollack AN, Andersen
RC: Moderators’ Summary: Wound Management. J
Am Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S43-S44.
Bagg MR, Levin LS:
Moderators’ Summary: Wound Management.
J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S73-S74.
Calhoun JH, Frisch HM:
Moderators’ Summary: Antibiotics and
Infection. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S96-S97.
Mazurek MT , Burgess AR:
Moderators’ Summary: Stabilization
of Long Bones. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S113-S117.
Hayda RA, Bosse MJ:
Moderators’ Summary: Management of Segmental
Bone Defects. J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S142-S144.
Smith DG, Granville RR:
Moderators’ Summary: Amputee Care.
J Am Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S179-S182.
Pollack AN, Calhoun JH: Extremity War Injuries: State of the Art
and Future Directions. Prioritized Future Research Objectives. J Am
Acad Orthop Surg 2006 14: S212-S214.
Dr.
David S.C. Chu, the DoD Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and
Readiness, speaks at the EWI Symposium. Courtesy Erin Ransford
Over 110 international and domestic military and civilian
orthopaedic surgeons and researchers gathered in Washington, D.C. for
the jointly sponsored AAOS and Orthopaedic Trauma Association Extremity
War Injuries (EWI) II Symposium: Development of Clinical Treatment
Principles symposium. The collaborative input from the attendees helps
AAOS to identify the gaps in musculoskeletal trauma research.
Symposium: Orthopaedic War Injuries from Combat Casualty
Care to Definitive Treatment: A Current Review of the
Basic Science, Clinical Advances and Research Opportunities
Symposium: From Iraq - Back to Iraq: Modern Combat Orthopaedic Care
The United States government has already recognized the need for
additional orthopaedic research funding. The Fiscal Year 2006 Defense
Appropriations Bill established the Orthopaedic Trauma Research Program
funded at $7.5 million. The Orthopaedic Trauma Research Program is
the first program created in the Department of Defense allocated exclusively
to funding peer-reviewed intramural and extramural orthopaedic trauma
research. It is the only Department of Defense research laboratory
dedicated solely to improving combat casualty care. The intent of
the program is to foster collaboration between military and civilian
orthopaedic surgeons and researchers.
The Extremity War Injuries symposium and a special issue of the Journal of the
American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons serve as a foundation for
the advocacy of continued and additional trauma research funding.
Partial symposium funding of the symposium was received from the National
Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the
National Institutes of Health, the Orthopaedic Research and Education
Foundation, and the Orthopaedic Research Society.
