Timing of Orthopaedic Surgery in the Multiply-injured Patient: Development of a Protocol for Early Appropriate Care

Study Summary

Early fixation of unstable fractures of the femur, pelvis, and acetabulum reduces some complication rates. However, in patients with multiple injuries, the optimal treatment of skeletal trauma may be affected by severe injury to the head, chest, or abdomen. The relationship between associated injury severity and the timing of definitive management of unstable fractures is not well-understood. The practice of "early total care," early definitive fracture management, has been criticized by some, who have suggested that additional hemorrhage with surgery may be associated with a deleterious systemic inflammatory response. The alternative extreme of "damage control orthopedics (DCO)" has been recently proposed as a means of providing provisional stability of major skeletal injury, generally through external fixation. It is speculated that DCO will diminish the potential for systemic compromise. However, the need for further (definitive) surgery on a delayed basis, and the potential additional complications and costs associated with this strategy are controversial. The investigators' goals are to define which injuries or parameters warrant delay of definitive orthopaedic care, and to determine what time interval for fracture fixation promotes optimal patient outcome. The investigators will assess the effects of fracture fixation on head injury, chest injury, abdominal injury, mortality, complications, patient outcomes, and costs.