title: [Definitive postponed surgery for the casualties with multiple injuries in the earthquake].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To explore the treatment of casualties who suffered from multiple injuries in earthquake and had been treated by damage control (DC) immediately,and the definite postponed surgery time by way of APACHE II score.
  
  
  METHODS
  From May to June 2008, 21 casualties who had undergone DC accepted further treatment of medicine and surgery, and recovered physical potentiality in the intensive care unit (ICU). APACHE II score was adopted to evaluate the casualties' physical potentiality. Then, internal fixation of intra-articular fractures and centrum fractures, alternation from external fixation to internal fixation, reconstruction of soft tissue was applied by stages according to the plan.
  
  
  RESULTS
  All the patients were effectively cured after definite postponed surgery. There was less complication, low deformity ratio and no death happened.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Timely evaluation of the casualties' physical potentiality, appropriate surgery time and exact surgery can reduce the casualties' complication, deformity rate and death rate.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedics, Nanjing General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command, Nanjing 210002, Jiangsu, China.
authors.forename: Bei-yue
authors.initials: BY
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jian-ning
authors.initials: JN
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Ting
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Guo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002681:China; D055866:Earthquakes; D005260:Female; D005592:Fracture Fixation; D050723:Fractures, Bone / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome