Table 1.

Soft tissue management for each Gustilo fracture grade

	Grade I	Grade II	Grade IIIa	Grade IIIb	Grade IIIc
Conservative	21	3	1
Primary closure	4	10	2
Delayed closure	4	2	1
SSG only	1	1	2
Local flaps ± SSG			1	15
Free tissue transfer				2
Amputation					1

SSG, split thickness skin graft.

The total of 71 interventions is due to the fact that one of the free flaps undertaken failed and, as a result, a local flap was performed to cover the defect.