Np. Suedkamp et al., THE INCIDENCE OF OSTEITIS IN OPEN FRACTURES - AN ANALYSIS OF 948 OPENFRACTURES (A REVIEW OF THE HANNOVER EXPERIENCE), Journal of orthopaedic trauma, 7(5), 1993, pp. 473-482
Even though treatment protocols of open fractures have been improved i
n the past two decades, osteitis is still a major complication in thes
e injuries. To investigate the primary factors responsible for posttra
umatic osteitis, 19 cases of osteitis out of 297 open fractures (retro
spective series from 1981 to 1983) and nine cases of osteitis out of 6
51 open fractures (prospective series from 1984 to 1989) were analyzed
. The Hannover fracture scale was used for quantitative evaluation of
the injury. A high prognostic index for bone infections was found for
the amount of bone loss, the fracture type, the type of bacteriologic
contamination, deep soft-tissue defects, compartment syndromes, vascul
ar injuries, and soft-tissue infections.