Amputation and Polytrauma

Battlefield wounds which lead to amputation of a limb(s) require complex medical treatment; and patients require extensive medical care. War injuries of this magnitude may cause multiple physical injuries (polytrauma) where both physical and psychological symptoms are exhibited. Healthcare providers try to maximize the patient's independence, mobility, and quality of life. Treatment plans are therefore customized for each patient's rehabilitation and prosthetic needs.

Polytrauma care is given to veterans and returning service members with injuries to more than one physical region or organ system. These injuries may be life threatening, and may result in physical, cognitive, psychological, or psychosocial impairments and functional disability. Examples of polytrauma include:

Amputation

News and Information

• New treatments for traumatic eye injuries
• AP IMPACT: US troops losing hearing
• The Military Amputee and The Unique Characteristics of War Injuries
• Dealing with Grief and Depression
• The Psychological Concerns of the Soldier Amputee
• VA's Polytrauma Rehabilitation Centers Focus on New Era of Veterans

Clinical Guidance

• VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline for Rehabilitation of Lower-Limb Amputation

DoD/VA Programs and Services

• SAMMC Battlefield Health and Trauma Concept
• WRAMC, Department of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Service
• VA Polytrauma System of Care
• Military Amputee Research Program
• New VA Rules for Specially Adapted Housing Grants
• Prosthetics: High Tech Support for Wounded Warriors
• Accredited VA Prosthetics and Orthotics Labs
• Prosthetic Devices

Other Organizations and Services

• Amputee Coalition of America (ACA)

• Military in-Step (A publication of the ACA in partnership with the US Army Amputee Patient Care Program.)

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Blast-Related Injuries

Blast Injury

• DoD/Va Programs and Services
• Research

• Clinicians
• Patients and Families
• Research
• DoD Blast Injury Research Program

• DVBIC Blast Injury Fact Sheet
• Blast Injury Basics A Primer for the Medical Speech-Language Pathologist
• CDC Blast Injury Fact Sheets
• CDC Explosions and Blast Injuries: A Primer for Clinicians
• VA Office of Research and Development Polytrauma and Blast-Related Injuries QUERI Fact Sheet
• Blast and Explosions VA/DoD General Guidance (Pocket Guide)

• Blast Injury: Translating Research into Operational Medicine, Apr 08 (A monograph from the forthcoming Borden Institute volume "Quantitative Physiology: Concepts in Military Operational Medicine." It "describes pioneering biomedical research that forms the basis of our current knowledge of blast injury mechanisms.")

Blast Lung Injury

• CDC Blast Lung Injury: Prehospital Care
• CDC Blast Lung Injury: What Clinicians Need to Know

Burns

• Outcomes of bacteremia in burn patients involved in combat operations overseas


• Vets’ group: Link between TBI, blindness needs more attention
  
  

Embedded Fragements

• DHCC Metal Fragments Web Page

Head Injury

• The Study of Seizures in 153 Head Injury Patients of the Iran-Iraq War
• Seizures and Head Injury

Hearing Loss

• Effectiveness of hearing protector devices in impulse noise verified with transiently evoked and distortion product otoacoustic emissions
• Blast-Related Ear Injury in Current U.S. Military Operations

Infections

• Trauma-related Infections in Battlefield Casualties from Iraq

Neuropathic Pain

• DoD/VA Programs
  • Chronic Pain Rehabilitation Program
• News and Information
  • Pain Management: Neuropathic Pain
  • Pain in the Polytrauma Patient
  • The Psychological Concerns of the Soldier Amputee

Neuropsychiatric Problems

• Brain Injury and Neuropsychiatric Problems
• Neurobehavioral Symptoms  (also, see slide no. 51)

Psychological Impairment

• Psychological Health, Stress, & Resilience
• Dealing with Grief and Depression
• Pain and Emotional Problems in Soldiers with Polytraumatic Injuries

Speech Impairment

• Dysarthria: Neurological Motor Speech Impairment

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

• Documentary: Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury
  This 29-minute video, introduced by General Colin L. Powell, USA (Ret.), offers an introduction to TBI, a health issue affecting at least 1.4 million Americans each year. It features the recovery journeys of several service personnel and their families.
• DHCC TBI Web
• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on TBI

• Correlation of procalcitonin and cytokine expression with dehiscence of wartime extremity wounds