Emergency debridement has long been the standard of care for open fractures of the tibia as infection is an important complication. In developing countries, patients are admitted to teaching hospitals 6 to 24 hours after their initial trauma. We sought to evaluate outcomes of nailing and correlations between the risk of infection and the delay in surgery. Materials and methods: Medical files of 48 men and 15 women with a combined total of 63 open fractures of the leg during a 12-year period were reviewed. The mean age was 29 years. Thirty-four type I and 29 type II open fractures according to the classification of Cauchoix and Duparc were treated with Küntscher nail after excision/debridement. Preoperative CRP was performed in 27 patients and in 22 cases it was positive. Twenty-six fractures were treated within a period of 6 to 24 hours, and a further 37 was operated on beyond 24 hours. The average waiting time before surgery was 2 days. Results: The infection was present in 11 patients (17.5%). We failed to establish any correlation between the time of treatment and the occurrence of infection for both type I and type II fractures treated during the same intervals with p = 0.244 (p > 0.05). But we established a correlation between the type of open fracture and the occurrence of infection with p = 0.01 (p < 0.05). There were 10 cases of infection among 22 cases of positive preoperative CRP. We couldn't find a correlation between the positive value of the pre-operative CRP and the occurrence of infection. Seven cases of infection were treated with appropriate antibiotherapy and early revision surgery. Four others cases complicated to bone infection (n = 2) and septic nonunion (n = 2). The average time of hospitalization was 22 days. The average time for fracture healing was 7 months. Conclusion: The rule of six hours is hardly applicable in our contexts. Our study showed no correlation between the preoperative period and the occurrence of infection.

Knee dislocation is a serious and rare injury. Its rarity and the variety of injuries that result from it mean that there is no adequate management that is universally accepted. The aim of this study was to evaluate our emergency care strategy for these injuries. Materials and methodology: This was a retrospective study conducted from January 1992 to December 2004 on nine cases of knee dislocation. It consisted of six men and three women. The average age of these subjects was 35, ranging from 15 to 50 years. The causes for these injuries included: public road accidents (n = 4), household accidents (n = 3), a sporting accident and a dislocation that occurred following a fight. The dislocations were anteromedial (n = 4), posterolateral (n = 2), posterior (n = 2) and anterior (n = 1). Associated injuries were sore joint (n = 2), contusion of the common peroneal nerve (n = 1) and vascular injury (n = 1). An angiography was performed on one patient for a vascular injury and an Elecmyography (EMG) for a common peroneal nerve injury. Closed reduction was used for eight patients and open reduction for one patient. Results: Five knees were stable with normal range of motion and some residual pain. Four patients had knee instability; two anterior, one anteroposterior and one lateral. In three of these patients, the CT arthrography/arthro-scan confirmed central pivot damage, with meniscal damage in two of them. The four patients were referred to a knee surgeon in a private practice. The post-operational effects were minimal in vascular injury. The EMG performed for the common peroneal nerve detected a nerve contusion. Conclusion: Our emergency care strategy remains closed reduction. This therapeutic management is consistent, at least in the first 15 days, with the literature.

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