Abstract
Between 1982 and 1996, 44 patients with 57 fractures were treated with external fixation and subsequent internal fixation. The fractures were maintained in external fixation for an average of 47.1 days, after which the fixator was removed and internal fixation was done during the same procedure in cases without pin-tract infection. Four of the 57 fractures, 7.0%, subsequently developed deep infections after intramedullary nailing. we concluded that since the possibility exists of a pin-site infection developing during external fixation, a fixator should be used with caution even if internal fixation, especially with an intramedullary nail, is done with no active infection more than three weeks after the external fixator is removed.
