Table 2 Details of soft tissue defects

Numbers of patients

15

18

Numbers of flaps

18

20

Etiology

 <  0.001

Initial trauma

6

17

Postoperative wound necrosis / postoperative open wound

9

0

Postoperative infection

3

3

Initial diagnosis

0.04

Tibial shaft fx

5

9

Distal tibial fx

4

2

Ankle fx

5

0

Calcaneus fx

1

1

Talus fx

1

0

Lisfranc fx

0

4

Metatarsal fx

0

4

Traumatic ulcer

1

0

Achilles tendon rupture

1

0

Open fracture (Gustilo classification)

5

16

0.001

II

2

0

IIIA

1

0

IIIB

2

16

Initial wound management

 <  0.001

Other doctors

14

3

Reconstructive surgeons

4

17

Open-wound periods (days): mean ± SD (range)^a

21 ± 10 (0–42)

7 ± 7 (1–27)

 <  0.001

Location

0.01

Middle 1/3

3

7

Distal 1/3

13

5

Heel

2

2

Mid-foot

0

6

Defect size

 <  0.001

Large (> 8 cm)

5

20

Middle (4–8 cm)

6

0

Small (< 4 cm)

7

0

Internal fixation

15

14

0.40

Intramedullary nail

5

6

Plate

7

7

External fixator

0

1

Screw or tension band

3

0

Implant just under the defect

9

7

0.51