DOI: 10.36347/sasjs.2023.v09i10.002

Pages: 835-841

Introduction: The aim of this work was to describe the emergency management of open fractures at the Brazzaville University Hospital (CHUB). Patients and Methods: this was a descriptive study with retrospective data collection from January 1 to December 31, 2022, in the surgical unit of the medical-surgical emergency department of the CHUB. All injured people hospitalized during the study period for recent open fractures whose initial treatment was carried out at the CHUB were included. The parameters studied were epidemiological, clinical, paraclinical and therapeutic. The GUSTILO Anderson Classification was used to assess the extent of skin lesions. Results: We collected 114 patients for 121 open fractures. There were 93 men (81.57%) and 21 women (18.43%), i.e. a sex ratio of 4.42. The average age was 32.4 ± 6.23 years, the etiologies were dominated by public road accidents (73.68%). The average consultation time was 4.45 hours. The pelvic limbs were affected in 80.99% of cases. Open fractures of both leg bones were the most frequent (75.20%). Type II fractures of the GUSTILO classification were in the majority (69.42%). There was one case of vascular involvement of the leg tripod and one case of radial nerve involvement. The average time for initial treatment was 8.36 ± 1.20 hours. Types I and II lesions required emergency suture before definitive treatment in 14.87% and 46.28% of cases respectively. The average time for definitive treatment was 22.91 hours. Osteosynthesis was performed in 86.78% of cases, cast immobilization with fenestration in 12.39% of cases and transfemoral amputation in 1 case. Internal fixation using an external fixator was the most frequent surgical indication (68.59%). Conclusion: Open leg fractures are very common traumatic injuries in our daily practice. Surgical treatment with an external fixator is the most commonly performed.