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An Educational Guide to Open Fractures

Open fractures are among the most severe orthopedic injuries that occur because of high-energy traumas like car/bike accidents. These fractures need surgical intervention as the broken bone significantly displaces out of its position. Thus, realignment requires the use of orthopedic devices.
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In this post, we will have a detailed look at open fractures along with the associated complications and treatment.

What Are Open Fractures?
Open fractures are orthopedic injuries in which the sharp end of the broken bone protrudes out of the skin causing a wound. Such fracture cases also involve bleeding where the extent of the bleeding depends on the severity of the condition. Above all, open fractures also carry the risk of infection because the internal structures of the fracture site make direct contact with the external environment.

These injuries demand immediate medical attention from orthopedic specialists as a delay can result in severe complications.


What Are the Risks Associated with Open Fractures?
Open fractures are severe injuries and there are certain risks associated with the condition:

Skin Loss
Open fractures are always accompanied by wounds that may be small or big. Depending on the size and severity of the wound, there will be more or less tissue loss. Sometimes, the tissue loss is severe enough that plastic surgery is required during the fracture treatment.

Soft Tissue Injury
When an open fracture occurs, it always results in damage to surrounding muscles, tendons, and ligaments. In some cases, the injury is so severe that reconstruction surgery is required.

Neurovascular Injury
Nerves are also prone to get injured in the case of open fractures. Besides this, as a result of limb deformity, nerve compression may be there. The same condition may also be seen in vessels. As a result, the blood supply gets affected and causes numbness in the affected area.
Infection

The chances of bacterial infection are very high when it comes to open fractures because of contamination with dirt, grime, and other contaminants. In the case of open fractures, the bacterial infection can directly enter the bloodstream. In such cases, severe complications may occur.

What is the Diagnosis for Open Fractures?
Orthopedic specialists can detect open fractures just by looking at the injury site. However, certain pathological and imaging tests are required to detect the presence of an infection and the severity of the condition.
Basic blood tests along with a clotting profile are a must for all suspected patients of open fractures. Besides this, an x-ray examination and CT scan are done to check the severity of the fracture and injury to surrounding tissues.

How Open Fractures Are Treated?
Surgery is a must for all open fractures however, the type of surgery depends on the severity of the condition. At first, the orthopedic specialist will look to minimize the risk of infection and for that, antibiotics are given. If required, the surgeon will perform dressing to close the wound.
When it comes to surgery, internal fixation is performed where the broken bones are realigned and stabilized using orthopedic plates, rods, pins, wires, and/or screws. Sometimes, internal fixation may not work at first. In such cases, external fixation is considered the first line of fracture treatment.

Siora Surgicals Pvt. Ltd. is a renowned orthopedic device manufacturer in India with over 30 years of experience. The company manufactures hundreds of different types of orthopedic implants and instruments using medical-grade stainless steel and titanium. Siora is also going to exhibit at FIME Trade Show 2023 in Miami, Florida.

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