Use of Ganga Hospital Open Injury Severity Scoring for determination of salvage versus amputation in open type IIIB injuries of lower limbs in children—An analysis of 52 type IIIB open fractures

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Introduction and aimsOpen injuries in children are rare compared to adults. In children with major open injuries, there is no specific scoring system to guide when to amputate or salvage the limb. The use of available adult scoring systems may lead to errors in management. The role of Ganga Hospital Open Injury Severity Scoring (GHOISS) for open injuries in adults is well established and its applicability for pediatric open injuries has not been studied. This study was done to analyse the usefulness of GHOISS in pediatric open injuries and to compare it with MESS(Mangled Extremity Severity Score). MethodsAll children (0–18 years) who were admitted with Open type IIIB injuries of lower limbs between January 2008 and March 2015 were included. MESS and GHOISS were calculated for all the patients. There were 50 children with 52 type IIIB Open injuries of which 39 had open tibial fractures and 13 had open femur fractures. ResultsOut of 52 type IIIB open injuries, 48 were salvaged and 4 were amputated. A MESS score of 7 and above had sensitivity of 25% for amputation while GHOISS of 17 and above was found to be more accurate for determining amputation with sensitivity of 75% and specificity of 93.75%. ConclusionGHOISS is a reliable predictor of injury severity in type IIIB open fractures in children and can be used as a guide for decision-making. The use of MESS score in children has a lower predictive value compared to GHOISS in deciding amputation versus salvage. A GHOISS of 17 or more has the highest sensitivity and specificity to predict amputation.