Postoperative Komplikationen in der Unfallchirurgie bei elektiv geplanten und traumatisch bedingten Operationen

Abstract

In a combined prospective and retrospective study the postoperative complications after surgery within 8 years in the Departement of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery of the Lukas Hospital Bünde were analysed. 24143 patients had been treated for fractures and other injuries as well as for orthopaedic diseases electively between April 1994 to April 2002. The local postoperative complications had been recorded prospectively ans were divided into different subgroups. The total complication rate was 4,7%. Within the subgroups the complication rate was 1,2% for technical errors (285 patients), 2,6 % (627 patients) for the local and 0,9% (220 patients) for general complications. Most of the technical complications consisted in instable osteosyntheses in comminuted fractures. Local complications were mostly haematomas. The leading general complication were the deep venous thrombosís. During the investigated operation period the technical complication rate dropped from 1994 to 2002. Total joint arthroplasty is a leading procedure in our departmen. The detailed analyses revealed a dislocation rate of 1,5 % and a local infection rate as low as below 1%. These results match well with reported single complication rates in the literature. The total distribution and the ratio of our complications show a good correlation with the former reported complication rate of a large medical centre ( Department of Trauma Surgery, University of Ulm).