An assessment of the POSSUM system in orthopaedic surgery.

We describe the development and validation of a scoring system for auditing orthopaedic surgery. It is a minor modification of the POSSUM scoring system widely used in general surgery. The orthopaedic POSSUM system which we have developed gives predictions for mortality and morbidity which correlate well with the observed rates in a sample of 2326 orthopaedic operations over a period of 12 months.

The AO unreamed tibial nail: a 14-month follow-up of the 1992 TT experience.

This paper reports early experiences with the immediate use of the AO unreamed tibial nail, the immediate complications and the 14 months follow-up of 13 patients with Gustilo grades I, II and IIIa open tibial fractures. The nail insertion technique was found to be clear and quickly acquired by the surgeons unfamiliar with it. There were two equipment complications associated with insertion and one early compartment syndrome.