Fat embolism syndrome after nailing an isolated open tibial fracture in a stable patient: a case report

BMC Research Notes

Luis López-Durán¹  Isabel Soler¹  Gustavo Aparicio¹ 

[1] Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, San Carlos University Hospital, Complutense University, c/Profesor Martín Lagos Avenue s/n, Madrid 28040, Spain

关键词: Intramedullary nailing;    Open tibial fracture;    Fat embolism syndrome;   

Others  :  1133746
DOI  :  10.1186/1756-0500-7-237

 received in 2014-01-30, accepted in 2014-04-10,  发布年份 2014

【 摘 要 】

Background

Fat embolism syndrome is a potentially fatal complication of long bone fractures. It is usually seen in the context of polytrauma or a femoral fracture. There are few reports of fat embolism syndrome occurring after isolated long bone fractures other than those of the femur.

Case presentation

We describe a case of fat embolism syndrome in a 33-year-old Caucasian man. He was being seen for an isolated Gustilo’s grade II open tibial fracture. He was deemed clinically stable, so we proceeded to treat the fracture with intramedullary reamed nailing. He developed fat embolism syndrome intraoperatively and was treated successfully.

Conclusion

This case caused us to question the use of injury severity scoring for isolated long bone fractures. It suggests that parameters that have been described in the literature other than that the patient is apparently clinically stable should be used to establish the best time for nailing a long bone fracture, thereby improving patient safety.

【 授权许可】

   
2014 Aparicio et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

【 图 表 】

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