External fixator for war purposes : The CMC fixator

More than 75% of all injuries in modern wars are localized on the extremities, and more than one-third of these injuries are accompanied by bone fracture. Application of an external fixator is one of the basic procedures in the treatment of war fractures. In this article, we present an external fixator for war purposes of our own construction called the CMC (Croatian Medical Corps) fixator. Although designed as a transport fixator, because of good biomechanical properties it has been widely used for definitive osteosynthesis of war injuries. The CMC fixator is manufactured as a sterile set, ready to use, with all necessary parts for application. On the battlefields of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina during the war from 1991 to 1995, more than 2,500 CMC fixators were applied. The fixator has satisfied all required conditions and considerably contributed to diminishing the consequences of war fractures.