ABSTRACT
Objective To evaluate the effect of external fixation at first stage combined with intr-amedullary nail internal fixation at second stage on treating open fracture of tibial shaft. Methods A total of 80 patients with open fracture of tibial shaft treated in our hospital from April 2016 to April 2017 were selected as the subjects. According to the treatment methods,they were divided as control group and obser-vation group with 40 cases in each group. The control group was given intramedullary nail internal fixation and the observation group was given external fixation at first stage combined with intramedullary nail inter-nal fixation at second stage. The general operation condition of the two groups was observed and the frac-ture reduction,healing and Rasmussen score were compared between the two groups. The difference of the circumference and pain degree between the two groups after 1,3 and 7 days were compared. Results The operative excellence rate of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group, and there was no difference in circumference and pain between the two groups after 1 day. The circumfer-ence and pain in the observation group was lower than that of the control group after 7 days postoperative-ly,and there was no difference in the Rasmussen score between the two groups after 1 month. The Rasmus-sen scores in the observation group were higher than those in the control group after 3 and 6 months post-operatively. The healing time and the time of callus formation in the observation group were shorter than those in the control group. Conclusion External fixation at first stage combined with intramedullary nail-ing internal fixation at second stage has better therapeutic effect on treating open fracture of tibial shaft.