The Urgency of surgical debridement in the management of wounds with open fractures

Al-Azzawi, Issam; Y. Qasem, Ghaith

	The Urgency of surgical debridement in the management of wounds with open fractures
IRAQI JOURNALOF COMMUNITY MEDICINE
Article 1, Volume 28, Issue 2, 2015, Pages 81-84
Authors
Issam Al-Azzawi; Ghaith Y. Qasem
Abstract
Others have reported that a delay in surgical management of open fractures does not significantly increase infection rates. Background: Best practices suggest urgent debridement of the wound and stabilization of the fracture using a range of techniques. Objectives: To compare the result of early wound debridement within six hours and those after six hours. Patients & Methods: A prospective study carried out in Al-Yarmouk Teaching Hospital for period March, 2008-March, 2010 on 248 patients with open fractures admitted to orthopedic emergency unit. The data were collected by the researchers through direct interview and filling a prepared questionnaire. Follow-up continued until radiological union had occurred or none-union was confirmed and infection was diagnosed by infection sign and culture. Results: Mean age of the patients in this study was 31 years. The commonest mechanism of injury was a blast and bullets injury (56%) followed by road traffic accidents (44%) number of males was 239 and females were 9. The results were analyzed and no statistically significant difference could be demonstrated between the two groups (p=value 0.6). Conclusions & Recommendations: No effect of early debridement on infection rate of open fractures. Arbitrary time figures including 6 hours rule should be re-evaluated
Keywords
Open fractures; Debridement; Infection rate

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