A STUDY ON OUTCOME OF SURGICAL TREATMENT OF COMPOUND TIBIA FRACTURES BY INTRAMEDULLARY NAILING AFTER PRELIMINARY EXTERNAL FIXATION – SHORT TERM RETROSPECTIVE AND PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: The tibial shaft is one of the most common sites of an open fracture, a fracture that involves a break in the skin with soft tissues communicating with the fracture or its hematoma, or both. Because of the high prevalence of complications associated with these fractures, management often is difficult, and the optimum method of treatment remains a subject of controversy. About 23% of all tibial fractures are open and most of these are Gustilo grade III53. Most of them are due to road traffic accidents followed by fall, sports activities, blow / assault, gunshot injuries and other rare injuries like blasts. \nAIM: To evaluate the functional outcome of surgical treatment of compound tibia fractures by intramedullary nailing after preliminary external fixation – short term retrospective and prospective analysis. \nMATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was done from February 2012 – November 2013, for a period of 22 months, in The Institute of Orthopedics & Traumatology, Madras Medical College & Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital, Chennai. We did secondary interlocking nailing after preliminary external fixation for grade II to grade III B open tibia fractures in 31 patients for 31 fractures. Out of these 31 patients, we have lost follow-up of 4 patients and we have analyzed the results with the average follow-up of 12 months and minimum follow up of 5 months. Inclusion criteria -