To what extent the cardiopulmonary and inflammatory response is affected by initial femoral intramedullary nailing in the already traumatized and inflammatory activated patient was analyzed in the present study with the attention to survey the additional burden of this operative treatment. The patients are monitored with a pulmonary catheter, and blood samples for coagulation, fibrinolysis, complement and cytokine response are withdrawn pre-, per- and postoperatively. The study is partly randomized 1)where delayed intramedullary nailing is compared with primary nailing of the femur, and 2) a new reaming technique (RIA) is compared with a standard reaming technique (TR).