
Additionally there is potential for fat embolism development, both requiring acute intervention. Open fractures of long bones may cause subsequent damage to surrounding tissue resulting in compartment syndrome. Additional complications include the broken bone ends not healing, called non-union, and the broken bone ends healing in an incorrect orientation, called malunion. Both the surrounding soft tissues can become infected, as well as the bone itself, which is called osteomyelitis. When a bone is broken and exposed to the outside environment, the probability of infection increases. Most open fractures have extensive damage to soft tissues near and around the bone such as nerves, tendons, muscles, and blood vessels. Some open fractures can have significant blood loss. Both of these inuuries are classified as open fractures.
#Comminuted open fracture leg skin
Most open fractures are characterized by a broken bone that is sticking out of the skin, but there can also be a broken bone that is associated with a very small "poke-hole" skin wound. There are a range of characteristics of open fractures as the severity of the injury can vary greatly. Older people with osteoporosis and soft-tissue problems are also at risk. The bone that is most commonly injured is the tibia and working-age young men are the group of people who are at highest risk of an open fracture. All these actions aimed to reduce the risk of infections. Therapeutic irrigation, wound debridement, early wound closure and bone fixation are the main management of open fractures. Cephalosporins are generally the first line of antibiotics. The person is also administered antibiotics for at least 24 hours to reduce the risk of an infection. Advanced trauma life support is the first line of action in dealing with open fractures and to rule out other life-threatening condition in cases of trauma. It can also be used to guide treatment, and to predict clinical outcomes. For diagnosing and classifying open fractures, Gustilo-Anderson open fracture classification is the most commonly used method. Other complications including a risk of malunion of the bone or nonunion of the bone. An open fracture can be life threatening or limb-threatening (person may be at risk of losing a limb) due to the risk of a deep infection and/or bleeding. Open fractures are emergencies and are often caused by high energy trauma such as road traffic accidents and are associated with a high degree of damage to the bone and nearby soft tissue. The skin wound is usually caused by the bone breaking through the surface of the skin. An open fracture, also called a compound fracture, is a type of bone fracture (broken bone) that has an open wound in the skin near the fractured bone.
