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. 2015 Jan-Feb;23(1):38-42.
doi: 10.1590/1413-78522015230100932.

Open fractures and the incidence of infection in the surgical debridement 6 hours after trauma

Miguel de Castro Fernandes  1 , Luciano Rodrigo Peres  1 , Aristóteles Correia de Queiroz Jr  1 , José Queiroz Lima Jr  1 , Flávio Moral Turíbio  1 , Marcelo Hide Matsumoto  1
Affiliations

Open fractures and the incidence of infection in the surgical debridement 6 hours after trauma

Miguel de Castro Fernandes et al. Acta Ortop Bras. 2015 Jan-Feb.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine whether a time delay greater than 6h from injury to surgical debridement influences the infection rate in open fractures.

Methods: During a period of 18 months, from October 2010 to March 2012, 151 open fractures were available for study in 142 patients in our hospital. The data were collected prospectively and the patients were followed up for 6 weeks. The patients were divided into two groups regarding the time delay from injury to surgical debridement (more or less than 6 hours).

Results: Surgical debridement was carried out in less than 6h from injury in 90 (59.6%) fractures and after 6 hours from injury in 61 (40.4%) fractures. Infection rates were 12.22% and 13.24%, respectively. The global infection rate was 13.24%.

Conclusion: A significantly increased infection rate was not observed in patients whose surgical debridement occurred more than 6h after injury. However, in the fractures of high-energy trauma, a statistically significant increase of the rate of infection was observed in those operated 6 hours after trauma. Level of Evidence II, Study Type Comparative and Prospective.

Keywords: Debridement; Fractures, open; Infection.

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Conflict of interest statement

Todos os autores declaram não haver nenhum potencial conflito de interesses referente a este artigo.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Distribution of compound fractures according to trauma mechanism.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Distribution of compound fractures according to anatomic location.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Distribution of infected compound fractures according to anatomical location.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Distribution of compound fractures according to Gustilo classification.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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