Compound Tibia Fractures, Kevin Ware NCAA hoops

You may have heard about the nasty compound shin bone fracture sustained by Louisville's Kevin Ware in the NCAA Regional Final game on Sunday.  These fractures are also known as open tibia fractures.  In this post, I'll outline some of the details of this serious injury to help everyone understand it better.

For a compound or open fracture to occur without any contact is very rare.  I did a search on PubMed yesterday and couldn't find even a case report of one.  So, we need to try to better understand why his shin bone or tibia failed.  Is it because he jumped and then landed with a dramatic twisting force?  That is one possibility.  Another one is that he may have had some underlying weakness of his bone prior to the injury.  It occurred to me that these young men play a ton of hoops especially toward the end of the year with their conference tournaments and then immediately thereafter they participate in the NCAA tourney.  Did he have some stress injury to the bone due to playing so many games that may have predisposed it to failure?  Is it possible that he had a metabolic bone problem that resulted in it being weak?  Finally, was it simply one of worst cases of bad luck in a basketball history?  We may never know.

It is crucial that he was treated immediately by an elite trauma team.  Indy has some of the best in the country.  What he likely had to have done was a wash out of the area where the bone poked through the skin and then an insertion of a titanium nail to stabilize the bone.  He also sustained injuries to the skin and muscle around the bone.  These are known as soft tissue injuries.  These will also need to heal.  In addition to the surgery, he was likely given intravenous antibiotics to help prevent the onset of infection.

Mr. Ware's type of fracture usually takes several months to heal properly.  Occasionally, additional growth factors are given at the time of surgery to improve the chances the fracture consolidates.  Or, external devices that deliver ultrasound or electrical stimulation are used to enhance or accelerate the bone healing.  Even if everything initially is done perfectly as it seems to have been in this case, there is still a risk of bone not healing (delayed or non-union) or the possibility of late infection.

It is great to see Mr. Ware up and sending out pictures.  This young man dealt with a severe injury that was witnessed by millions of people on live TV with incredible courage and poise.  Hopefully his recovery will be uneventful and speedy.  I know we all would love to see him back on the court as soon as possible.


AM

View an excellent story about the injury from Dr. Jon LaPook and Scott Pelley from the CBS Evening News.

References

Melvin et al.  “Open Tibial Shaft Fractures:  I.  Evaluation and Initial Wound Management”

Journal of the American Academy of Orthopeadic Surgeons

Melvin et al.  “Open Tibial Shaft Fractures: II.  Definitive Management and Limb Salvage”

Journal of the American Academy of Orthopeadic Surgeons