Achievements and Innovations in Military and Translational Medicine During the Special Military Operation (2022–2026)

The period of the Special Military Operation (2022–2026) marked an era of profound and comprehensive transformation for Russian military medicine, driven by unprecedented challenges: the high intensity of combat operations, the predominance of mine-blast trauma and polytrauma in the structure of sanitary losses, and the need to provide care under conditions of mass and irregular influx of the wounded. An analysis of 78 scientific publications demonstrates that the response to these challenges was not merely adaptation, but a fundamental restructuring of the entire medical evacuation and treatment system. The classical linear staging gave way to a network-centric model, where mobile forward medical groups and aeromobile units play a key role, while “vertical” evacuation by air ambulance has reduced the time for delivering severely wounded patients to multidisciplinary hospitals to 60–90 minutes. In clinical practice, a true technological breakthrough occurred: the principles of Damage Control Surgery became the standard for treating polytrauma, and in vascular surgery, priority shifted to endovascular and hybrid methods, fundamentally changing approaches to treating traumatic pseudoaneurysms and arteriovenous fistulas. Concurrently, massive transfusion protocols were standardized, becoming a key factor in reducing mortality from acute blood loss, and modern multimodal analgesia protocols were introduced, including the legalized use of narcotic analgesics at the pre-hospital stage. A continuous system of staged medical and psychological rehabilitation has been established, integrating high-tech prosthetics, including myoelectric prostheses, methods for managing phantom limb pain (botulinum therapy, mirror therapy), and robotic exoskeletons. The accumulated experience, grounded in the close integration of military and civilian medical services, has not only forged a new “gold standard” for managing severe combat trauma but has also acted as a powerful catalyst for innovation, with outcomes that hold strategic significance for the development of the entire healthcare system, particularly in the field of disaster medicine.

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