DRONE-WOUND Study: Severe Infection After Drone-Related Combat Trauma

The widespread use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including first-person view (FPV) drones and explosive drone-delivered munitions, has fundamentally changed the pattern of combat injuries. Compared with conventional gunshot wounds and traditional blast injuries, drone-related trauma frequently results in extensive soft tissue destruction, deep tissue devitalization, severe contamination, open fractures, vascular injury, and complex multisystem extremity trauma. These injuries often require repeated surgical debridement, prolonged antimicrobial therapy, reconstructive procedures, and extended rehabilitation.

Severe wound infection remains one of the leading causes of morbidity following combat-related extremity trauma. However, the mechanisms linking the extent of tissue devitalization with subsequent infectious complications have not been adequately characterized. Early identification of patients at high risk for severe infection could improve surgical decision-making, optimize antimicrobial stewardship, and reduce the incidence of limb loss, sepsis, and other major complications.

The DRONE-WOUND Study is designed to characterize the relationship between tissue devitalization and severe infection following drone-related combat trauma. The study will prospectively collect standardized clinical, operative, microbiological, and imaging data from patients with combat-related injuries treated at participating trauma centers. Particular attention will be given to the extent of tissue devitalization, contamination, vascular injury, fracture characteristics, timing and number of surgical procedures, microbiological findings, antimicrobial therapy, and infection-related outcomes.

The study will evaluate clinical and injury-related factors associated with severe wound infection and describe the microbiological spectrum of infections, including multidrug-resistant organisms. Secondary analyses will investigate the association between tissue injury severity and the need for repeated debridement, reconstructive surgery, amputation, prolonged hospitalization, intensive care admission, and mortality.

The results are expected to improve understanding of infection pathogenesis following drone-related combat injuries and provide evidence to support risk stratification, surgical management, infection prevention, and antimicrobial treatment strategies in modern combat trauma. The findings may also contribute to the development of future clinical prediction models and standardized management protocols for patients sustaining drone-related injuries.

Inclusion criteria

• Adults aged 18 years or older.
• Combat-related injury caused by a confirmed drone-related mechanism, including first-person view (FPV) drones, drone-delivered explosive munitions, or other unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-associated injuries.
• Open extremity injury requiring operative surgical debridement.
• Hospital admission within 24 hours after injury.
• Written informed consent provided by the participant or legally authorized representative, in accordance with local regulations.

Exclusion criteria

• Age younger than 18 years.
• Isolated superficial soft tissue injuries not requiring operative treatment. Injuries requiring immediate primary amputation before initial surgical assessment.
• Patients transferred more than 24 hours after injury.
• Pre-existing active infection involving the injured limb before the combat injury.
• Patients who die before completion of the initial surgical debridement.
• Prisoners or other individuals unable to provide informed consent when no legally authorized representative is available.