TITLE:
Intramedullary Nailing of Type I and Type II Open Leg Fractures after 6 Hours at Yopougon Teaching Hospital
AUTHORS:
Traoré Alidou, Mbende Alban Slim, Sery Bada Justin Léopold Niaoré, Mobiot-Aka Christelle, Soumaro Kanaté Daouda, Boka Eva Rebecca, Sie Essoh Jean Baptiste, Bamba Insa, Lambin Yves
KEYWORDS:
Intramedullary Nailing, Open Fracture, Leg, Six Hours
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Orthopedics,
Vol.6 No.8,
July
20,
2016
ABSTRACT: Emergency debridement has long been the standard of care for open fractures of the tibia as infection is an important complication. In developing countries, patients are admitted to teaching hospitals 6 to 24 hours after their initial trauma. We sought to evaluate outcomes of nailing and correlations between the risk of infection and the delay in surgery. Materials and methods: Medical files of 48 men and 15 women with a combined total of 63 open fractures of the leg during a 12-year period were reviewed. The mean age was 29 years. Thirty-four type I and 29 type II open fractures according to the classification of Cauchoix and Duparc were treated with Küntscher nail after excision/debridement. Preoperative CRP was performed in 27 patients and in 22 cases it was positive. Twenty-six fractures were treated within a period of 6 to 24 hours, and a further 37 was operated on beyond 24 hours. The average waiting time before surgery was 2 days. Results: The infection was present in 11 patients (17.5%). We failed to establish any correlation between the time of treatment and the occurrence of infection for both type I and type II fractures treated during the same intervals with p = 0.244 (p > 0.05). But we established a correlation between the type of open fracture and the occurrence of infection with p = 0.01 (p