Related Experiment Video

Updated: Jun 18, 2026

Creating Rigidly Stabilized Fractures for Assessing Intramembranous Ossification, Distraction Osteogenesis, or Healing of Critical Sized Defects
07:35

Creating Rigidly Stabilized Fractures for Assessing Intramembranous Ossification, Distraction Osteogenesis, or Healing of Critical Sized Defects

Published on: April 11, 2012

Open tibial fractures. Are children small adults?

N E Gougoulias1, A Khanna, N Maffulin

  • 1University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke on Trent, UK. gougnik@yahoo.com

Hippokratia
|November 18, 2009
PubMed

Insights

Pediatric open tibial fractures require further research. Children over 10 may benefit from adult management protocols for these complex injuries.

Area of Science:

  • Orthopedic Surgery
  • Pediatric Traumatology

Background:

  • Open tibial fractures in children are understudied compared to adults.
  • Existing data is limited to small case series, lacking clear management guidelines.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the management and outcomes of open tibial fractures in pediatric patients.
  • To determine if pediatric open tibial fractures follow similar patterns to adult fractures.
  • To identify prognostic factors for pediatric open tibial fractures.

Main Methods:

  • Review of case series data on pediatric open tibial fractures.
  • Analysis of management strategies including wound closure, fracture stabilization (cast, external fixation, elastic intramedullary nailing).
  • Identification of prognostic indicators such as age and fracture grade.

Main Results:

  • Primary wound closure after irrigation is safe for low-grade open tibial fractures.
  • Casts, external fixation, and elastic intramedullary nailing are viable stabilization methods.
  • Age over 10 years and open fracture grade III are significant negative prognostic factors.

Conclusions:

  • Children over 10 with open tibial fractures might be managed similarly to adults.
  • Further long-term studies are essential to understand complications and outcomes.
  • Research is needed to compare the efficacy of various pediatric fracture management techniques.

Keywords:
childrenfixationfractureopentibia

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