Pelvic Fracture - Results of Early External Fixation

Background: The behavior of pelvic ring fracture following surgical fixation has been very sparsely studied. Pelvic ring injuries, depending on their severity had been treated by variety of closed method. The purpose of the study is to assess the short-term functional outcome of pelvic ring fracture following surgical fixation.

Method: Present prospective study consists of 62 patients of pelvic fracture admitted in department of orthopedics, NSCB medical college and hospital Jabalpur (M.P) during the period of Oct. 2010 to Sep. 2011. All patient of type A (stable) fracture treated by conservative method. Out of 40 patients of unstable pelvic fracture (involving pelvic ring) 14 were treated by surgical method. Out of 14 patients 4 were treated by external fixation, 8 by internal fixation, and 2 by combined external and internal fixation. Functional outcome assessment was done by Majeed Scoring System [1].

Results: Functional outcome score in surgically treated patient is excellent in 7 patients, good in 4, fair in 2, and poor in 1 patient at 3 month follow-up. Pain is the most common complaint after 3 month of surgical fixation, it is seen in 4 patients (28.57%) but only 1 patient changed his job because of this pain.

Conclusion:Unstable Pelvic ring injury has poor outcome, it should be treated by operative methods for optimal functional outcome.