CORR Insights^®: Do Inflammatory Markers Portend Heterotopic Ossification and Wound Failure in Combat Wounds?

Excerpt

Although modern military safety equipment appears to protect some soldiers from penetrating injury, it can also leave them subject to the massive blast injury trauma. The contemporary military surgeon is faced with the Herculean task of treating massive bone and soft tissue injury, while relying mostly on clinical assessment. The Regenerative Medicine Team from the Naval Medical Research Center is making progress in describing the massive, but poorly regulated immune response to blast injury. In previous work [1‐3], the Regenerative Medicine Team identified numerous cytokines and chemokines produced in this response. Interestingly, some cytokines such as Il-6 are associated with acute inflammatory response, while others appear to be associated with osteogenesis and may contribute to the formation of heterotopic ossification (HO). …