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Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series

Introduction: Management of Gustilo-Anderson grade 3b tibia fractures are challenging due to the high rate of complications which includes infection, nonunion and possible amputation. Due to limited soft tissue coverage of the tibia antero-medially, open fractures remain a treatment challenge. Despi...

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Main Author: Barouni, Elyas
Other Authors: Laubscher, Maritz
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery 2021
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access_status_str Open Access
author Barouni, Elyas
author2 Laubscher, Maritz
author_browse Barouni, Elyas
Laubscher, Maritz
author_facet Laubscher, Maritz
Barouni, Elyas
author_sort Barouni, Elyas
collection Thesis
description Introduction: Management of Gustilo-Anderson grade 3b tibia fractures are challenging due to the high rate of complications which includes infection, nonunion and possible amputation. Due to limited soft tissue coverage of the tibia antero-medially, open fractures remain a treatment challenge. Despite many advances, the ideal time delay to definitive soft tissue cover remains controversial. Aim: We aimed to investigate the management strategy and the outcome of soft tissue reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson grade 3b tibia fractures at a tertiary hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 22 patients who underwent soft tissue reconstruction for grade 3b tibia fractures from January 2014 to July 2017. Patient demographics, comorbidities, injury characteristics and management practices such as time to debridement, relook time, Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT), soft tissue coverage and complications were recorded. Results: Most patients were males (n=18; 81.8%) with an average age of 39.3 years. Pedestrian vehicle accidents accounted for 45.4%(n=10), motor-vehicle accidents (n=6; 27.3%) and gunshot wounds (n=2; 9.1%). The commonest site of injury was the middle third of the tibia (n=13; 59.1%), distal third (n=7; 31.8%) and proximal third (n=2; 9.1%). Most patients (n=18; 81.8%) were debrided within 24 hours. The mean times for NPWT prior to cover was 12.5 days and for soft tissue cover 13.7 days (range 2-35), respectively. Fasciocutaneous flaps (n=11; 50%) were predominantly used as cover, then pedicled muscle flaps (n=8; 36.4%), free flaps (n=2) and skin graft(n=1). Most patients (n=13; 59.1%) received satisfactory outcomes. Seven (31.8%) required soft tissue revisions. Three patients (13.6%) suffered complications namely, complete flap loss resulting in amputation, partial skin graft loss and soft tissue infection, respectively. Patients who underwent debridement after 24 hours reported the least complications and there appeared to be better outcomes in the relooks beyond 48 hours. Conclusion: Despite achieving outcomes which concur with other published studies, the BOAST 4 guidelines were not fully reflected in our management strategy. We will require larger numbers in future studies to formulate a standardized management protocol going forward.
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institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:32:33.381Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2021
publishDateRange 2021
publishDateSort 2021
publisher Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
publisherStr Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/32588 Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series Barouni, Elyas Laubscher, Maritz Surgery Introduction: Management of Gustilo-Anderson grade 3b tibia fractures are challenging due to the high rate of complications which includes infection, nonunion and possible amputation. Due to limited soft tissue coverage of the tibia antero-medially, open fractures remain a treatment challenge. Despite many advances, the ideal time delay to definitive soft tissue cover remains controversial. Aim: We aimed to investigate the management strategy and the outcome of soft tissue reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson grade 3b tibia fractures at a tertiary hospital in Cape Town, South Africa. Methods: A retrospective study was conducted on 22 patients who underwent soft tissue reconstruction for grade 3b tibia fractures from January 2014 to July 2017. Patient demographics, comorbidities, injury characteristics and management practices such as time to debridement, relook time, Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT), soft tissue coverage and complications were recorded. Results: Most patients were males (n=18; 81.8%) with an average age of 39.3 years. Pedestrian vehicle accidents accounted for 45.4%(n=10), motor-vehicle accidents (n=6; 27.3%) and gunshot wounds (n=2; 9.1%). The commonest site of injury was the middle third of the tibia (n=13; 59.1%), distal third (n=7; 31.8%) and proximal third (n=2; 9.1%). Most patients (n=18; 81.8%) were debrided within 24 hours. The mean times for NPWT prior to cover was 12.5 days and for soft tissue cover 13.7 days (range 2-35), respectively. Fasciocutaneous flaps (n=11; 50%) were predominantly used as cover, then pedicled muscle flaps (n=8; 36.4%), free flaps (n=2) and skin graft(n=1). Most patients (n=13; 59.1%) received satisfactory outcomes. Seven (31.8%) required soft tissue revisions. Three patients (13.6%) suffered complications namely, complete flap loss resulting in amputation, partial skin graft loss and soft tissue infection, respectively. Patients who underwent debridement after 24 hours reported the least complications and there appeared to be better outcomes in the relooks beyond 48 hours. Conclusion: Despite achieving outcomes which concur with other published studies, the BOAST 4 guidelines were not fully reflected in our management strategy. We will require larger numbers in future studies to formulate a standardized management protocol going forward. 2021-01-20T09:31:17Z 2021-01-20T09:31:17Z 2020 2020-12-23T09:43:32Z Master Thesis Masters MMed http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32588 eng application/pdf Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Faculty of Health Sciences
spellingShingle Surgery
Barouni, Elyas
Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series
title_full Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series
title_fullStr Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series
title_full_unstemmed Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series
title_short Soft tissue Reconstruction of Gustilo-Anderson Grade IIIB Open Extra-Articular Tibial Fractures at a Tertiary Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa: A Retrospective Case Series
title_sort soft tissue reconstruction of gustilo anderson grade iiib open extra articular tibial fractures at a tertiary hospital in cape town south africa a retrospective case series
topic Surgery
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/32588
work_keys_str_mv AT barounielyas softtissuereconstructionofgustiloandersongradeiiibopenextraarticulartibialfracturesatatertiaryhospitalincapetownsouthafricaaretrospectivecaseseries