Clinical Characteristics of Acetabular Fractures in Motor Vehicle Accident According to Tile's Classification

Choi, Han Joo; Oh, Seong Beom

Abstract

PURPOSE
Pelvic ring fractures amount to 1.5% of all joint fractures. The most frequent causes of pelvic trauma are related to car accidents (50~60%) and car-pedestrian crashes (24~28%). The incidence and severity according to the types of acetabular fractures are not known well. We wanted to evaluate the clinical characteristics of acetabular fractures.
METHODS
We reviewed the medical records and radiographic findings of 46 cases of the acetabular fractures in patients who suffered motor vehicle accidents during a 2 year period (from March 2007 to April 2009).
RESULTS
The proportion of acetabular fractures was 35.7% of all the pelvic bone fractures due to motor vehicle accidents. The males made up 65.0% of the patients. The mean patient age was 44 year old. The majority of cases were driver-accidents (37.0%). As basis on Tile's grouping, the anterior fracture was the most common type (45.6%). The initial ISS score was higher for anterior fracture than that for the other types of acetabular fractures. Surgical operations were performed for 59.0% of the study patients. When the operative intervention was performed within 3 days, the ICU stay of the patients was much longer. Early surgical intervention could not reduce the development of late complications or improve the overall clinical outcomes.
CONCLUSION
Acetabular fractures are not a rare type of pelvic bone injury in patients who are injured in motor vehicle accidents. Anterior fracture was the most common type and it showed a poor prognosis. Early surgical intervention cannot reduce the length of the hospital stay of patients with acetabular fractures or the development of late complications.