Immediate internal fixation of open fractures of the diaphysis of the forearm.
Between 1975 and 1983, fifty-seven patients were treated at Sunnybrook and Harborview Medical Centers with immediate internal plate fixation of an open diaphyseal fracture of the forearm. Fifty patients were available for follow-up, which ranged from one to nine years and averaged three years. The injuries were classified on the basis of the extent of soft-tissue injury as defined by Gustilo and Anderson, and consisted of twenty Type-I injuries, nineteen Type-II injuries, and eleven Type-III injuries. The complications included deep infection in two patients and non-union in six. The functional results were excellent or good in 85 per cent of the series. This study demonstrates that immediate stable plate fixation is a beneficial method of treatment of open fractures of the forearm. The results are related to the severity of the initial soft-tissue injury and the surgical technique. Autogenous cancellous bone-grafting at the time of closure of the wound in comminuted fractures in which interfragmental compression cannot be obtained is recommended.
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001860:Bone Plates; D005260:Female; D005597:Fractures, Open / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D005599:Fractures, Ununited / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010000:Osteitis / Q000209:etiology; D011859:Radiography; D011885:Radius Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D014458:Ulna Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*