Delayed debridement increased risk of infection after open femoral, tibial fractures
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Key takeaways:
- Every 6-hour delay in debridement increased the probability of infection in patients with open femoral and tibial fractures by 0.17%.
- These injuries should be debrided “promptly and expeditiously.”
The probability of infection increases by 0.17% for every 6-hour delay in debridement for patients who undergo intramedullary nailing of an open femoral or tibial fracture, according to published results.
Researchers used the Surgical Implant Generation Network surgical database to perform a retrospective study of data for 10,651 patients (mean age of 33.58 years) who underwent intramedullary nailing of an open femur fracture (n= 3,210) or open tibia fracture (n = 7,441). They performed local logistic regression analysis to evaluate the risk for infection with debridement delays in 6-hour increments.
Researchers found the overall probability of infection increased by 0.17% for every 6-hour delay in debridement. Patients with tibial fractures had a 0.18% increased probability of infection, while patients with femoral fractures had a 0.13% increased probability of infection with every 6-hour delay in debridement. They also noted the probability of infection increased 0.23% in patients with Gustilo-Anderson type-III injuries and 0.13% in patients with Gustilo-Anderson type-I or II injuries with every 6-hour delay in debridement.
Researchers concluded these injuries should be debrided “promptly and expeditiously,” and the findings from this cohort may be generalizable to other environments where fractures are treated.
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