Pulmonary reaction during intramedullary fracture management in traumatic shock: an experimental study

Immediate nailing of shaft fractures in severely injured patients causes fat embolization. This method therefore is considered potentially dangerous, since fat intravasation in association with multiple trauma and subsequent endotoxemia might lead to pulmonary dysfunction. We therefore studied the pathophysiologic events of intramedullary nailing in the lungs of sheep with chronic instrumentation including lung lymph fistula. In the 7 animals in group I closed nailing of the intact tibia and femur was performed. Group II (n = 7) animals sustained hypovolemic shock and retransfusion prior to nailing, while group III (n = 11) animals were treated like those in group II and further challenged on the following two days with endotoxin. Group III was compared with group IV (n = 6), in which endotoxin was given only once without additional trauma. Nailing in group I led to a significant increase of the MPAP from 10.8 to 13.8 mm Hg postoperatively (p < 0.05), but no increase in lung permeability. Only additional hypovolemia, retransfusion and nailing as performed in groups II and III showed significant increase of the lymph flow (QI) from 4.4 mL/h to 12.4 mL/h and the protein clearance (Pclear) from 3 to 6.3. A significant difference of the pulmonary permeability between group I and II was only observed postoperatively. There was no difference in the lung response between group III and IV. This ovine study corroborates that although nailing causes a moderate increase in pulmonary pressure, it does not lead to increased lung permeability. Only additional hemorrhagic shock, even when adequately resuscitated, leads to lung disturbance postoperatively. The subsequent endotoxin challenge does not aggravate lung injury.