Retrospective study of failed surgical treatment of acetabular fractures / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To analyze the possible reasons of failed surgical treatment of acetabular fractures. Methods Various methods were used for positive patient identification, including according to Matta's X-ray assessment and Merle d'Aubigne & Postel hip function score of clinical standards for classification of acetabular fracture reduction surgery were not satisfied or not carried out a reduction and fixation,the clinical evaluation of hip joint as a "bad", occurrence of femoral head subluxation or dislocation, femoral head necrosis and other serious complications. From February 2000 to February 2008, 22 patients including 14 males and 8 females with an average age of 38.6 years (range, 18-72 years) were considered as failed cases. Results 45.5% of these cases were posterior wall fractures which were not given any fixation, 27.3% of them were posterior column fractures which were not fixed, 13.6% of them whose reduction and fixation of anterior wall fractures were not satisfied, and 9.1% of them were anterior column fractures which needed fixation. One case should take open reduction and iternal fixation instead of THA. The rate of misdiagnosis and mistaken diagnosis were 90% if only X-ray evaluation was made and this rate decreased to 8.3% if computed tomography was taken. The rate of wrong selection of operative approach was 100% in 10 cases of misdiagnosis, and which was 58.3% in 12 cases of correct diagnosis. In the 5 patients with correct diagnosis and selection of operative approach, the reasons of failed surgical treatment were due to imperfect surgical skills in 3 cases, and inappropriate fixation patterns in 2 cases. Conclusion The causes of the failure of surgical treatment for acetabular fracture might include preoperative missed diagnosis and misdiagnose, inappropriate approach, and an unreasonable internal fixation with unskillful technique.