Extremity injuries in soldiers during the conflict in Mali: experience of Togo Level two Hospital.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to analyse war-related and non-war-related extremity injuries in soldiers in the Mali conflict.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective study was performed from 1 May 1 to 31 December 2014. It concerned extremity injuries in soldiers treated at Togo Level 2 Hospital.

RESULTS: Seventy-nine patients with an average age of 31.19 years were assessed. Among them, 50 were admitted after war injury and 29 from nonwar injury. Most war-related injuries were due to improvised explosive devices (IEDs) (36 %); road traffic accidents (51.72 %) were the main mechanism of non-war injury. A total of 125 injuries were analysed. Limb fractures were identified in 37 patients (29.6 %), and 22 cases (59.46 %) were open fractures. Twenty-six (20.8 %) patients had soft tissue wounds. The other injuries were sprains (18.4 %), muscle contusions (15.2 %), dislocations (8.8 %), traumatic amputations (4 %) and burns (3.2 %). Surgical debridement and external fixator application were the most frequently performed surgical procedures. Thirty-nine per cent of patients were evacuated to a level 3 hospital for better care.

CONCLUSION: The severity of injuries and their rapid treatment require orthopaedic surgeons to have high levels of surgical experience and knowledge pertaining to military or disaster surgical doctrine.