Experience in Managing War Trauma with a Damage Control Approach in the Hospital for Patients with Femur or Tibia Fractures

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Oscar Hernando Calderón Uribe
Carlos Arnulfo Satizabal Azuero
Ferney Ahmed León Balcero
Darío Sebastián Arcos Lucero

Abstract

Introduction: The Central Military Hospital of Bogotá, Colombia has a specialized team for treating war trauma patients. They conduct an initial assessment of patients and promptly manage potentially fatal injuries using a damage control approach that aims to save the patient’s life, save the limb, and preserve its function.
Materials and Methods: An observational, descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted on patients from the Colombian armed forces who, between 2012 and 2020, had femur or tibia fractures as a result of war trauma; these patients were treated using external fixation by the orthopedics and traumatology service of the Central Military Hospital in Bogotá, Colombia.
Objectives: To describe the complications associated with war trauma following a year of treatment for femur and/or tibia fractures under a damage control protocol at the Central Military Hospital, the nation’s reference facility for this kind of trauma.
Results: A retrospective review of war trauma patients between 2012 and 2020 with femoral or tibial fractures treated with DCO was performed. Fisher’s Exact tests were used for comparisons. Seventy-two soldiers were selected, 96% of fractures were open, 91% (66 cases) had some type of complication such as nerve injury, vascular injury, coverage defect, infection, and nonunion.
Conclusions: In our country, war trauma persists as one of the causes of polytrauma in young patients, which has significant clinical and financial implications. Bone injuries of severely affected extremities require staged management based on external fixation according to damage control principles.

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How to Cite
Calderón Uribe, O. H., Satizabal Azuero, C. A., León Balcero, F. A., & Arcos Lucero, D. S. (2023). Experience in Managing War Trauma with a Damage Control Approach in the Hospital for Patients with Femur or Tibia Fractures. Revista De La Asociación Argentina De Ortopedia Y Traumatología, 88(6), 606-619. https://doi.org/10.15417/issn.1852-7434.2023.88.6.1705
Section
Clinical Research
Author Biographies

Oscar Hernando Calderón Uribe, Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

Carlos Arnulfo Satizabal Azuero, Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

Ferney Ahmed León Balcero, Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

Darío Sebastián Arcos Lucero, Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

Orthopedics and Traumatology Service, Hospital Militar Central, Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia

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