Reconstruction of a Traumatic Soft Tissue Defect

ABSTRACT

Soft tissue defect combined with an open fracture is a very challenging problem to the orthopaedic surgeon. Many complicated open fractures remain with soft tissue defect, chronic osteomyelitis, and sometimes terminate with major limb amputation. Soft tissue defect should be reconstructed as soon as possible, particularly when the bone, tendon, or neurovascular structures are exposed. Exposure for longer than a week significantly increases the risk of secondary infection and tissue necrosis. For the simple soft tissue defect, negative pressure wound closure technology has been introduced and many superficial wounds have been treated successfully using this method. For the more complicated wounds, many kinds of local flaps, pedicled flaps, muscle and fascisocutaneous flaps can be indicated according to the characteristics of the wounds. The free flaps including free vascularized bone graft can be considered as a final choice for the most difficult wound problems. In this article, various reconstruction strategies for soft tissue defect after traumatic open fracture are reviewed.