Development of mine-blast trauma severity score for lower extremities in men

Abstract

This study presented the results of the analysis of existing approaches to the assessment of the severity of lower extremity injuries protected with explosion-proof shoes in case of mine-explosive ammunition explosion. An increasing number of mine explosives are used in modern local wars and armed conflicts. At present, more than 110 million mines are planted and activated. Every year, nearly 10 thousand individuals are killed by explosive demolitions, and more than 20 thousand civilians sustain injuries. The necessity to clear minefields and to destroy located ammunition increases the risks of mine clearance specialists to mine-blast trauma of the lower extremities. To reduce the likelihood of severe trauma in this population, developing effective blast protective equipment, such as anti-mine boots, is necessary. The effectiveness evaluation of protective boots requires special methodology that should comprise relevant methods of mine-blast trauma severity estimation. Mine-blast trauma is a special type of surgical pathology where the injured individual has extremity avulsion or multiple injuries to extremity tissues accompanied by severe impairment of body functions. Almost all available domestic classifications of mine-explosive wounds have a pronounced clinical orientation, and foreign ones have terminologies that are not accepted in Russia and cannot be fully used for assessment purposes. The modified working classification, in the form of a rating scale, showed not only the characteristics of a given blast trauma but also the criteria of trauma severity estimation and feasibility of exposure to blast trauma. The results of the study demonstrated the potential for its use to estimate the protective features of mine clearance specialist boots when exposed to charge explosion, as well as recommendations to include this classification in documenting the science and technology that deal with the general specifications of protective equipment for specialists at the project stage.