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Summary: Caring for patients' mental health and their physical health is critical during recovery after trauma. The Orthopaedic Trauma Association has created a patient mental health task force to address the mental health care aspect of our patients' care. This article summarizes the task forces goals and activities to date., Competing Interests: Dr. Ring receives funding from the NIH for testing a mental health intervention after musculoskeletal injury. The remaining authors report no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To report functional outcomes of unilateral sacral fractures treated both operatively and nonoperatively., Design: Prospective, multicenter, observational study., Setting: Sixteen Level 1 trauma centers., Patients/participants: Skeletally mature patients with unilateral zone 1 or 2 sacral fractures categorized as displaced nonoperative (DN), displaced operative (DO), nondisplaced nonoperative (NN), and nondisplaced operative (NO)., Main Outcome Measurements: Pelvic displacement was documented on injury plain radiographs. Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (SMFA) scores were obtained at baseline and at 3, 6, 12, and 24 months after injury. Displacement was defined as greater than 5 mm in any plane at the time of injury., Results: Two hundred eighty-six patients with unilateral sacral fractures were initially enrolled, with a mean age of 40 years and mean injury severity score of 16. One hundred twenty-three patients completed the 2-year follow-up as follows: 29 DN, 30 DO, 47 NN, and 17 NO with 56% loss to follow-up at 2 years. Highest dysfunction was seen at 3 months for all groups with mean SMFA dysfunction scores: 25 DN, 28 DO, 27 NN, and 31 NO. The mean SMFA scores at 2 years for all groups were 13 DN, 12 DO, 17 NN, and 17 NO., Conclusions: All groups (operative/nonoperative and displaced/nondisplaced) reported worst function 3 months after injury, and all but (DN) continued to recover for 2 years after injury, with peak recovery for DN seen at 1 year. No functional benefit was seen with operative intervention for either displaced or nondisplaced injuries at any time point., Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To identify the patient, injury, and treatment factors associated with an acute infection during the treatment of open ankle fractures in a large multicenter retrospective review. To evaluate the effect of infectious complications on the rates of nonunion, malunion, and loss of reduction., Design: Multicenter retrospective review., Setting: Sixteen trauma centers., Patients: One thousand and 3 consecutive skeletally mature patients (514 men and 489 women) with open ankle fractures., Main Outcome Measures: Fracture-related infection (FRI) in open ankle fractures., Results: The charts of 1003 consecutive patients were reviewed, and 712 patients (357 women and 355 men) had at least 12 weeks of clinical follow-up. Their average age was 50 years (range 16-96), and average BMI was 31; they sustained OTA/AO types 44A (12%), 44B (58%), and 44C (30%) open ankle fractures. The rate FRI rate was 15%. A multivariable regression analysis identified male sex, diabetes, smoking, immunosuppressant use, time to wound closure, and wound location as independent risk factors for infection. There were 77 cases of malunion, nonunion, loss of reduction, and/or implant failure; FRI was associated with higher rates of these complications (P = 0.01)., Conclusions: Several patient, injury, and surgical factors were associated with FRI in the treatment of open ankle fractures., Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To evaluate a large series of open fractures of the forearm after gunshot wounds (GSWs) to determine complication rates and factors that may lead to infection, nonunion, or compartment syndrome., Design: Multicenter retrospective review., Setting: Nine Level 1 Trauma Centers., Patients/participants: One hundred sixty-eight patients had 198 radius and ulna fractures due to firearm injuries. All patients were adults, had a fracture due to a firearm injury, and at least 1-year clinical follow-up or follow-up until union. The average follow-up was 831 days., Intervention: Most patients (91%) received antibiotics. Formal irrigation and debridement in the operating room was performed in 75% of cases along with either internal fixation (75%), external fixation (6%), or I&D without fixation (19%)., Main Outcome Measures: Complications including neurovascular injuries, compartment syndrome, infection, and nonunion., Results: Twenty-one percent of patients had arterial injuries, and 40% had nerve injuries. Nine patients (5%) developed compartment syndrome. Seventeen patients (10%) developed infections, all in comminuted or segmental fractures. Antibiotics were not associated with a decreased risk of infection. Infections in the ulna were more common in fractures with retained bullet fragments and bone loss. Twenty patients (12%) developed a nonunion. Nonunions were associated with high velocity firearms and bone defect size., Conclusions: Open fractures of the forearm from GSWs are serious injuries that carry high rates of nonunion and infection. Fractures with significant bone defects are at an increased risk of nonunion and should be treated with stable fixation and proper soft-tissue handling. Ulna fractures are at a particularly high risk for deep infection and septic nonunion and should be treated aggressively. Forearm fractures from GSWs should be followed until union to identify long-term complications., Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To review a large, multicenter experience to identify the current salvage and amputation rates of these combined injuries and, where possible, the variables that predict amputation., Design: Retrospective., Setting: Nine trauma centers., Patients: This study involved 199 patients presenting to 9 trauma centers with orthopaedic and vascular injuries resulting in ischemic limbs for whom the orthopaedic service was involved with the decision for salvage versus amputation., Results: We reviewed 199 patients, 17-85 years of age. One hundred seventy-two of the injuries were open. Thirty-eight patients (19%) were treated with amputation upon admission as they were deemed to be unsalvageable. Of the remaining 161 patients who had attempted salvage, 36 (30%) required late amputation. Closed injuries were successfully salvaged in 25 of 27 cases (93%). The highest rate of amputation was in tibia fractures with a combined amputation rate of 62%. In those attempted to be salvaged, 21 of 48 (44%) required amputation. The ischemia time for successful salvage was significantly less, P = 0.03. One hundred twenty-four patients had their definitive vascular repair before the bony reconstruction. There were 15 vascular complications, of which 13 (86%) had the definitive vascular repair performed before the definitive osseous repair, although this was not statistically significant., Conclusions: In this series of combined orthopaedic and vascular injuries, we found a high rate of acute and late amputations. It is possible that other protocols, such as shunting and stabilizing the osseous injury, before vascular repair may benefit limb salvage, although this needs more study., Level of Evidence: Prognostic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: We conducted a large, U.S wide, observational study of type III tibial fractures, with the hypothesis that delays between definitive fixation and flap coverage might be a substantial modifiable risk factor associated with nosocomial wound infection., Design: A retrospective analysis of a multicenter database of open tibial fractures requiring flap coverage., Setting: Fourteen level-1 trauma centers across the United States., Patients: Two hundred ninety-six (n = 296) consecutive patients with Gustilo III open tibial fractures requiring flap coverage at 14 trauma centers were retrospectively analyzed from a large orthopaedic trauma registry. We collected demographics and the details of surgical care. We investigated the patient, and treatment factors leading to infection, including the time from various points in care to the time of soft-tissue coverage., Intervention: Delay definitive fixation and flap coverage in tibial type III fractures., Main Outcome Measurements: (1) Results of multivariate regression with time from injury to coverage, debridement to coverage, and definitive fixation to coverage in the model, to determine which delay measurement was most associated with infection. (2) A second multivariate model, including other factors in addition to measures of flap delay, to provide the estimate between delay and infection after adjustment for confounding., Results: Of 296 adults (227 M: 69 F) with open Gustilo type III tibial fractures requiring flap coverage, 96 (32.4%) became infected. In the multivariate regression, the time from definitive fixation to flap coverage was most predictive of subsequent wound infection (odds ratio 1.04, 95% confidence interval 1.01 to 1.08, n = 260, P = 0.02) among the time measurements. Temporary internal fixation was not associated with an increased risk of infection in both univariate (P = 0.59) or multivariate analyses (P = 0.60). Flap failure was associated with the highest odds of infection (odds ratio 6.83, 95% confidence interval 3.26 to 14.27, P < 0.001)., Conclusion: Orthoplastic teams that are dedicated to severe musculoskeletal trauma, that facilitate coordination of definitive fixation and flap coverage, will reduce the infection rates in Gustilo type III tibial fractures., Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence., Competing Interests: The authors report no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: To evaluate the accuracy with which the Majeed Pelvic Score has been reported in the English literature., Data Sources: Databases used to search for literature were PubMed, Embase, and Ovid, restricted to English language from inception to October 2, 2018., Study Selection: Search words used were: Majeed, pelvis, and outcome., Data Extraction: Articles were assessed for descriptions of scoring and proper reporting of Majeed Pelvic Outcome Score., Data Synthesis: Descriptive statistics were used to report the outcome of our findings., Conclusions: Ninty-two English articles were identified. Twenty-four (26%) articles were identified as including methodology related to the use and scoring of the Majeed Pelvic score. The remaining 68 presented mean Majeed scores with no methodological information. None (0/92) discussed how the range of possible scores for the most severe function was applied. Six (7%) reported adjusted scores for patients not working. Three (3%) included a discussion of the scores as adjusted for patients working before injury compared with those not working. Ten (11%) addressed the categorization of scores by excellent to poor describing what raw scores defined those categories. We observed poor accuracy and notable inconsistency in the use and reporting of the Majeed Pelvic Outcome Score in the literature. These data demonstrate that interpretation and comparison of research reporting this score should be done cautiously. Future studies should include specific information as to how the Majeed instrument calculated to allow for verification of the presented scores and subsequent conclusions.

Objective: To characterize the timing, indications, and "success rates of secondary interventions, dynamization and exchange nailing, in a large series of tibial nonunions" (dynamization and exchange nailing are types of secondary interventions)., Setting: Retrospective multicenter analysis from level 1 trauma hospitals., Patients: A total of 194 tibia fractures that underwent dynamization or exchange nailing for delayed/nonunion., Intervention: Records and radiographs to characterize demographic data, fracture type, and cortical contact after tibial nailing were gathered. The radiographic union score for tibias (RUST) and the timing of intervention and time to union were calculated., Main Outcome Measures: The primary outcome was success of either intervention, defined as achieving union, with the need for further intervention defining failure. Other outcomes included RUST scores at intervention and union, and timing to intervention and union for both techniques. Two-tailed t tests and Fisher exact with P set at <0.05 for significance were used as indicated., Results: A total of 194 tibia fractures underwent dynamization (97) or exchange nailing (97). No statistical differences were found between groups with demographic characteristics. The presence of a fracture gap (P = 0.01) and comminuted fractures (P = 0.002) was more common in the exchange group. The success rates of the interventions and RUST scores were not different when performed before versus after 6 months; therefore, data were pooled. The RUST scores at the time of intervention were not different for successful or failed dynamizations (7.13 vs. 7.07, P = 0.83) or exchanges (6.8 vs. 7.3, P = 0.37). Likewise, the time to successful versus failed dynamization (165 vs. 158 days, P = 0.91) or exchange nailing (224 vs. 201 days, P = 0.48) was not different. No cortical contact or a gap was a statistically negative factor for both exchange nails (P = 0.09) and dynamizations (P = 0.06). When combined, the success in the face of a gap was 78% versus 92% when no gap was present (P = 0.02)., Conclusions: Previous literature has few reports of the success rates of secondary interventions for tibial nonunions. The indications for dynamization and exchange were similar. Comminuted fractures, and fractures with no cortical contact or "gap" present after intramedullary nailing, favored having an exchange nail performed over dynamization. Fracture gap was also found to be a negative prognostic factor for both procedures. Overall, this study demonstrates high rates of union for both interventions, making them both viable options., Level of Evidence: Therapeutic Level III. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to characterize the presentation, size, treatment, and complications of pulmonary embolism (PE) in a large series of orthopaedic trauma patients who developed PE after injury., Methods: We reviewed the records of orthopaedic trauma patients who developed a PE within 6 months of injury at 9 trauma centers and 2 tertiary care facilities., Results: There were 312 patients, 186 men and 126 women, average age 58 years. Average body mass index was 29.6, and average Injury Severity Score was 18. Seventeen percent received anticoagulation before injury, and 5% had a history of PE. After injury, 87% were placed on prophylactic anticoagulation and 68% with low-molecular weight heparin. Fifty-three percent of patients exhibited shortness of breath or chest pain. Average heart rate and O2 saturation before PE diagnosis were 110 and 94%, respectively. Thirty-nine percent had abnormal arterial blood gas, and 30% had abnormal electrocardiogram findings. Eighty-nine percent had computed tomography pulmonary angiography for diagnosis. Most clots were segmental (63%), followed by subsegmental (21%), lobar (9%), and central (7%). The most common treatment was unfractionated heparin and Coumadin (25%). Complications of anticoagulation were common: 10% had bleeding at the surgical site. Other complications of anticoagulation included gastrointestinal bleed, anemia, wound complications, death, and compartment syndrome. PE recurred in 1% of patients. Four percent died of PE within 6 months., Conclusions: This is the first large data set to evaluate the course of PE in an orthopaedic trauma population. The complications of anticoagulation are significant and were as common in patients with lower risk clots as those with higher risk clots.