Clinical analysis of Acetabular Fracture

Cho, Duck Yun; Lee, Joong Myung; Jung, Han Ji; Kim, Yung Tae

Abstract

Fracture of acetabular are relatively uncommon, but when they occur they seem to pose management difficulties for attending surgeon. They are, however, important injuries because they may give rise to disabling symptoms. Furthermore, they are increasing in frequency due to the increasing number of traffic accidents. Forty cases of acetabular fracture were treated in the National Medical Center during the period 1980 to 1987. The short summary of observation were as follows : 1) There was a preponderance of young patients, the majority being in the 31-40 age group(68%). The ratio between males and females was 2.6:1. 2) The most common cause of injury was traffic accident(68%). 3) The most common associated fracture was pelvic bone fracture(48%), and most common associated other injury was abdominal visceral injury(30%). 4) The most common fracture was posterior wall fracture(28%) following to Judet & Letournel's anatomocal clsssification. 5) Twenty-five fracture(63%) were treated by conservative measures, and 15 fractures (37%) were treated by open reduction and internal fixation. 6) The results were as follows : excellent in 13(33%), good in 19(47%), fair in 5(13%), and poor in 3(7%). 7) The complication of acetabular fracture were traumatic arthritis in 6 cases, sciatic nerve injury in 2 cases, avascular necrosis of femoral head in 2 cases. 8) Not only choice of treatment but also determination of surgical approch require accurate assessment of the fracture pattern in this region of complex bony architecture by careful radiologic analysis.