Extract
A review of the data presented in the "Supplementary Material"
for the article "Outcomes After Treatment of High-Energy Tibial Plafond
Fractures"
(2003;85:1893-900), by Pollak
et al., reveals several disturbing trends that were not reported in the
published article. No data were listed to define the severity of the open
injuries. Therefore, the ramifications of the severity of the soft-tissue
wounds and the method of treatment chosen cannot be determined. The authors
reported that eleven of the forty-two fractures managed with open reduction
and internal fixation and twenty of the thirty-eight fractures managed with
external fixation with or without limited internal fixation were open
injuries. With an appropriate sample size, it could be predicted that the
group that had external fixation with or without limited internal fixation
would have a higher severity of soft-tissue injury compared with the group
that had open reduction and internal fixation. Likewise, a comparison of the
Type-B and Type-C fracture groups would reveal a trend that, with larger
numbers, would indicate that the external fixation group had a substantial
level of structural damage compared with the open reduction and internal
fixation group.