Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Damage control orthopaedics (DCO) is a surgical concept that tends to control but not definitely repair the injuries caused to a polytrauma patient after trauma. Early total care (ETC) involves rapid stabilisation of the fracture after optimisation of retrieval conditions. In this study, a prospective randomized investigation will be done to correlate the clinical impression of DCO, ETC with the laboratory values of interleukin-6, Procalcitonin and C-reactive protein (CRP) in diaphyseal femoral fractures of polytrauma patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: During this study period 40 patients with diaphyseal femoral shaft fractures meeting the inclusion criteria presented to our institute. After random allocation, 20 patients underwent surgery with External fixation with the purpose of DCO and other 20 patients underwent antegrade nailing according to ETC. RESULTS: There was a propensity of higher immuno-inflammatory response in the group subjected to primary stabilization of the femoral fractures than those with external fixation. CONCLUSION: The correlation of multiple markers and their significance over time would help the clinician to take a decision for the type of treatment that can be offered to the patient.