An observational study was conducted of 105 patients presenting with an open fracture of the tibia or ankle to determine the impact of a dedicated orthoplastic operating list on our management of these injuries over the time period January 2012 to July 2014. There were 51 patients before and 54 after the introduction of the orthoplastic list. Significant improvements were noted in our ability to deliver a service in line with national guidelines across all Gustilo-Anderson grades of injury.Among patients with the most severe grades of injury (Gustilo types IIIB and IIIC), there was a trend towards an improved time to first skeletal stabilisation (29.5 vs 14.2 hours, p=0.068), an improvement in time to soft tissue coverage (173.6 vs 88.1 hours, p=0.009) and a trend towards a reduced length of inpatient stay (32.6 vs 23.2 days, p=0.138). Where the 72-hour target had been breached, there was a significant improvement in the proportion of patients covered within 7 days of injury (48.2% vs 83.3%, p=0.017).Our compliance with national management standards increased significantly to reflect these improvements in care. These results support the implementation of dedicated orthoplastic operating sessions to meet the growing burden of patients presenting with open fractures at specialist centres.

Overall, the rate of deep infection in high energy open tibial fractures managed within the four major trauma centes is low. Achieving surgical debridement within 12 h is challenging within the current infrastructure, and it is unclear whether adhering to this target will significantly affect the incidence of severe infective complications. Debridement within 24 h appears achievable. If a 12-h target is to be met, it is vital to ensure dedicated orthoplastic capacity is adequately resourced.

A web-based scoring system provides extended data capture, and mixed-effect statistical modelling reveals the effect that time, image and rater have on the scorings. The selection and training of raters, in combination with an exemplary yardstick, might improve inter- and intra-rater agreement. The development of objective measures based upon digital facial recognition can replace the highly variable subjective human influence on rating the aesthetic outcome.

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Therapeutic, III.