Open fractures and the incidence of infection in the surgical debridement 6 hours after trauma.

Objectives: To determine whether a time delay greater than 6h from injury to surgical debridement influences the infection rate in open fractures.

Methods: During a period of 18 months, from October 2010 to March 2012, 151 open fractures were available for study in 142 patients in our hospital. The data were collected prospectively and the patients were followed up for 6 weeks.