Guest nation symposium: management of musculoskeletal war injuries

Abstract For the last 2.5 years, Ukrainian surgeons have faced a vast number of war casualties generated by the Russian full-scale invasion in 2022. Despite being a middle-income country with limited medical resources, both the military and civilian Ukrainian health care systems were forced to respond to save lives and limbs of those injured by the destructive battlefield munitions. Development of educational resources to include on-line platforms were used on an unprecedented scale to educate civilian surgeons in the principles of war injury care, which differ from most civilian care practices. War trauma care principles of initial stabilization, debridement, external fixation with conversion to internal fixation where appropriate with bone and soft tissue defect management principles were implemented. Infection control measures were also important in mitigating infections associated with these severe injuries. These models and lessons can be useful in other conflict zones across the globe.