What is "polytrauma"

n. (context medicine English) The condition of a person who has been subjected to multiple traumatic injuries.

Polytrauma or multiple trauma is a medical term describing the condition of a person who has been subjected to multiple traumatic injuries, such as a serious head injury in addition to a serious burn. It is defined via an Injury Severity Score (ISS) equal to or greater than 16. The term has become common among US military doctors in describing the seriously injured soldiers returning from Operation Iraqi Freedom ( Iraq) and Operation Enduring Freedom ( Afghanistan). The term however is generic, and has been in use for a long time for any case involving multiple traumata.