Lessons from operation Iraqi freedom: successful subacute reconstruction of complex lower extremity battle injuries.
BACKGROUND
War wounds associated with Operation Iraqi Freedom have created a unique reconstructive challenge. The objective of this study was to report and analyze the timing and success rates of lower extremity reconstruction associated with devastating war wounds.


METHODS
A retrospective review was conducted of injured personnel requiring extremity flap reconstruction at the National Naval Medical Center over a 30-month period. Collected data included mechanism of injury, time from initial injury to closure, number of prereconstruction wound washouts, types of flap, flap failures, associated injuries, and wound culture characteristics.


RESULTS
From September of 2004 to February of 2007, 46 (36 pedicled and 10 free flaps) lower extremity flap reconstructions (10 fasciocutaneous, 34 musculocutaneous, and two adipofascial) were performed on 43 patients. Patient age ranged from 19 to 37 years. Time to reconstruction ranged from 7 to 82 days (average, 21 days). Seventy-six percent of all injuries were associated with an improvised explosive device blast. Mean number of prereconstructive washouts was five (range, two to 13). Fifty percent of all wounds cultured at admission revealed positive results, of which 57 percent were associated with Acinetobacter species. Total flap loss occurred in one flap and partial flap loss occurred in two flaps.


CONCLUSIONS
Despite reconstruction in the subacute period, the high rate of antimicrobial colonization before wound closure, and the devastating nature of improvised explosive device blast injuries, early analysis of the National Naval Medical Center war extremity reconstruction cohort demonstrates low total and partial flap loss rates and acceptable infection rates.
Kumar
Anand R
AR
Los Angeles, Calif.; and Bethesda, Md. From the Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, University of California, Los Angeles, and the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, National Naval Medical Center.
Grewal
Navanjun S
NS
Chung
Thomas L
TL
Bradley
James P
JP
D000328:Adult; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D016267:External Fixators; D005610:Freedom; D006801:Humans; D054542:Iraq War, 2003-2011; D007869:Leg Injuries / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000379:methods*; D019467:Subacute Care / Q000379:methods; D013530:Surgical Wound Infection / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000382:microbiology; D013997:Time Factors; D014022:Tissue Survival; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014945:Wound Healing