Tibial fractures are the commonest long bone fractures encountered by orthopaedic surgeons, because one third of the tibial surface is subcutaneous throughout most of its length, Tibia is the commonest bone for open fractures than any other major long bone. The management of open tibial fractures is often difficult, and the optimum method of treatment remains a subject of controversy as these fractures are associated with high prevalence of complications. Intramedullary nails have been used successfully in the treatment of open tibial fractures after thorough debridement and and have been associated with low rates of complications and early mobilization. This led us to design a trial, to study the results of primary internal fixation in the treatment of compound fractures of the tibia.

Methods: Thirty patients who had open fractures of tibia were treated with wound debridement and primary internal fixation at Sri Aurobindo Medical College & P.G. Institute, Indore (M.P.). Patients more than 18 years of age with open fractures of Tibia with Type III A and B according to Gustilo Anderson classification are included. Our objectives is to evaluate the functional and radiological outcomes using Johner and Wruh’s criteria at 6 months and to assess the complications associated with study.

Results: Final assessment in our series was done at 6 months using Johner & Wruhs criteria. Excellent, good, fair and poor were the grading used for Functional Outcome. In our study higher proportion 63.3% was for excellent, followed by 30.0% for good, lower proportion 3.3% was for fair & poor respectively. The study was associated with very low rate of complications.Conclusion: We recommend early extensive debridement, aggressive antibiotic therapy and primary stabilization followed by early wound coverage if required. Advantage of this study in addition to early joint motion, early weight bearing allows earlier return to work.