[Postoperative classification of traumatic soft tissue damage as an aid to treatment. A simple system exemplified by the lower leg]

Abstract

The prognosis of fracture healing depends upon the severity of injury sustained to the soft tissues and the blood supply left to the bone. The soft tissue injury cannot be precisely graded until after the fracture has been stabilized and radical debridement performed. Subsequent steps in the therapeutic strategy of compound fractures are determined mainly by the type and severity of soft tissue injury. Therefore fractures with soft tissue lesions need to be classified again after bone fixation and wound revision. Later treatment steps for restoration of the soft tissues are easily derived from the classification.