Research Priorities:

Theme 1:       Acute wound care and diagnosis (development of therapies and diagnostic tools that are appropriate for treating acute injuries sustained in austere conflict environments, where risks of contamination, extremes of temperature, and transportability are all factors.)

  1. What tools or protocols could be developed to assist the objective assessment, rapid diagnosis and categorisation of conflict wounds?
  2. What steps can be taken to mitigate secondary injury prior to casualty recovery from conflict zones, for example tools to aid the detection of sepsis?
  3. What treatments, such as ‘anti-scarring’ wound dressings, should be developed for use in austere conflict and humanitarian environments?
  4. Considering the possible nature and environment of future conflicts, which models would best inform acute wound care research?

Theme 2:       The biology of scarring (to better inform new treatments by understanding how the body heals and protects itself following the types of trauma that are likely in future conflicts, including chemical, burn, and complex blast injury.)

  1. What is the best suite of models to investigate high energy complex injuries?
  2. What can we learn from other fields either for therapeutics or the understanding/monitoring of biology, for example imaging and bioengineering?
  1. What work should be undertaken to develop our understanding of the wound bio-membrane?
  2. How can we understand the long-term effects of relevant injuries for example accelerated ageing and the influence of psychology on biology?

Theme 3:       Life-long scar impact, revision and rehabilitation (improvement of therapies for seriously injured armed forces personnel and veterans to reduce and correct scars, and to promote resilience to the psychological impact of their disfiguring injuries.)

  1. How do we ensure the best psychosocial outcomes for military personnel with conflict injuries that have altered their appearance, and their families?
  2. What is the physiological, life-long impact of limb amputation and prosthetic use?
  3. What is the role of physiotherapy and other treatments such as laser therapy in breaking down disabling, internal scar tissue and supporting return to function?

* There were 838 Seriously or Very Seriously Injured or Wounded battlefield casualties recorded by NOTICAS from 2001-2014 across Operations TELIC (Iraq) and HERRICK (Afghanistan), and 6,326 Veterans received compensation between 6 April 2005 to 31 March 2017 through the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme due to Injury, Wounds and Scarring.

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