Emergency treatment of open fractures of limbs : our experience in 684 cases.

Treatment of open fractures, due to the risk of infection of the bone, has always been a difficult problem to solve. The authors have for many years made ​​the choice to operate the fractures in emergency, ie within the first 6 hours of injury, to avert the risk of bone infection. In fact, working quickly, prevents microbial colonization of the fracture, making a thorough cleaning, mechanical cleansing and antibiotic therapy. The authors' experience is of 684 fractures treated in emergency in the last 10 years, with success: in fact the percentage of infection was only 0.1%. The treatment of fractures has been performed both with an external fixator of the Hoffmann type, with which plates and screws according to the technique AO compression, also in diaphyseal fractures of the femur is sometimes opted for the intramedullary nailing with nail Kuntschner.