Modern weapons and high-energy accidents inflict devastating damage to soft tissue and bone. The gold standard for stabilizing high-energy fractures is immediate external fixation followed by thorough debridement of soft tissues and dead bone and irrigation, since these injuries are always grossly contaminated. The next stage of treatment - the coverage of exposed bone by vital soft tissue and definitive skeletal stabilization and reconstruction - can be a complex surgical challenge. The protocol of staged external fixation developed by the authors: primary temporary unilateral tubular...