title: The effect of both a thoracic trauma and a soft-tissue trauma on fracture healing in a rat model.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  There is some clinical evidence that fracture healing is impaired in multiply injured patients. Nothing is known, however, about the effects of various types of injuries and their contribution to a possible disturbance of the fracture-healing process. We investigated the effect of a thoracic trauma and an additional soft-tissue trauma on fracture healing in a rat tibia model.
  
  
  METHODS
  3 groups of rats were operated: group A with a simple fracture of the tibia and fibula, group B with a fracture and an additional thoracic trauma, and group C with a fracture, thoracic trauma, and an additional soft-tissue trauma. The fracture and the soft-tissue injury were produced by a special guillotine-like device and the thoracic trauma by a blast wave generator. After one day, the serum level of IL-6 was quantified, and at the end of the study (28 days) the mechanical properties and the callus volume of the healed tibia were determined.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Increasing the severity of the injury caused IL-6 levels to more than double 1 day after injury. It halved the load to failure in mechanical tests and led to reduced callus volume after 28 days of healing.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Fracture healing is impaired when additional thoracic trauma and soft tissue trauma occurs.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Orthopaedic Research and Biomechanics, Center for Musculoskeletal Research, University of Ulm, Ulm, Germany. lutz.claes@uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: Lutz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Claes
authors.forename: Anita
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ignatius
authors.forename: Raimund
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Lechner
authors.forename: Florian
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gebhard
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kraus
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Baumgärtel
authors.forename: Stefan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Recknagel
authors.forename: Gert D
authors.initials: GD
authors.lastname: Krischak
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005360:Fibula / Q000293:injuries; D017102:Fracture Healing / Q000502:physiology*; D015601:Injury Severity Score; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000097:blood; D008297:Male; D008954:Models, Biological; D009104:Multiple Trauma / Q000503:physiopathology*; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D017695:Soft Tissue Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013898:Thoracic Injuries / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013978:Tibial Fractures / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D015850:Interleukin-6