The last century has seen great strides in the care of the polytrauma patient. Prior to the 1950s, routine operative stabilization of long bone fractures was not performed. With the advent of modern methods of fracture fixation the philosophy of early total care arrived and all fractures were operatively fixed at an early stage. Further understanding of the inflammatory response in trauma has now led to the concept of damage control orthopaedics. The aim of this review is to highlight this philosophy and its use in the polytrauma patient.
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