Predictors of early outcome in unstable pelvic fractures.

OBJECTIVE: To define the preoperative and intraoperative variables which may affect the immediate postoperative outcome in surgically managed patients with unstable pelvic fractures. METHODS: This study was performed prospectively from January 2009 to June 2011 on 36 consecutive patients admitted to the trauma ward of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, with unstable pelvic injuries. RESULTS: In the present study of 36 patients, 29 were managed surgically. Surgical duration was 2 hours in patients operated on within 1 week and 3.4 hours in those operated on after 1 week. The blood loss was 550 ml when surgery was done after a week, but when done within a week it was 350 ml. The average blood loss through Pfanenstial approach was 360 ml, through posterior approach was 408 ml and through combined approach was 660 ml which was significantly high. CONCLUSION: Anterior approach to the pelvis would cause significantly more amount of blood loss than posterior approach and external fixation. Surgical approaches do not have any influence on the surgical duration or the infection rate. The blood loss significantly increases when the surgical time is more than 1 h. The infection rate is not influenced by the duration of surgery. Presence or absence of associated injuries to the head, chest or abdomen is the main determinants of patient's survival and it greatly influences the duration of hospital stay.

Posterior wall reconstruction using iliac crest strut graft in severely comminuted posterior acetabular wall fracture.

Osteosynthesis of comminuted posterior acetabular wall fractures is a challenging task for surgeons. We report a series of eight cases of such fractures where the comminuted fragments were excised and the defect in the posterior acetabular wall was reconstructed with iliac crest strut graft. The graft was buttressed with a reconstruction plate on its posterior aspect. The patients were followed up every week until radiological signs of union were seen. Subsequent follow-up was after six months, one year and annually. Patients were evaluated clinically by Merle d'Aubigne and Postel score and radiologically by Matta score at their final follow-up. All fractures united radiologically after an average follow-up of 3.2 months. The clinical outcome after mean follow-up of 3.34 years (minimum two years and maximum five years) was as follows: two (25%) were excellent, two (25%) were very good, three (37.5%) were good and one (12.5%) was fair. Radiological grading at last follow-up showed excellent in one (12.5%), good in four (50%) and fair in three (37.5%) patients. No complication in the form of infection, heterotopic ossification, neurovascular injury or graft resorption was noticed. To conclude, excision of the small comminuted fragments and reconstruction of the wall using iliac crest strut graft is a viable alternative technique for reconstruction of the comminuted posterior acetabular wall fracture. The medium-term clinical and radiological results of this technique are satisfactory.

Long term surgical treatment outcome of talar body fracture.

OBJECTIVE: Talar body fractures are rare and have poor treatment outcome. The purpose of this study is to report the long term surgical treatment outcome of closed talar dome fractures. METHODS: Eight closed talar body fractures, treated by open reduction and internal fixation with small fragment cancellous screws and/or Herbert screws in our level I trauma centre were retrospectively analyzed. Preoperative and postoperative radiographs of the foot (antero-posterior, lateral and oblique views) and ankle (antero-posterior, lateral and mortise views) were obtained. The patients were followed up both radiologically and functionally (foot function index, FFI) after 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and then annually. RESULTS: There were five crush fractures and three shear fractures (two sagittal shear and one coronal shear), with average follow-up of 5 years. No early complications were noticed in these patients. Late complications included osteoarthrosis of subtalar/ankle joints in six patients and osteonecrosis of talar body in four patients. On functional assessment, mean FFI after 5 years was 104.63 points and worse outcome was noticed in crush injury and coronal shear fractures. Sagittal shear fractures had a good functional and radiological outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Late complications subsequent to surgically treated talar body fractures are inevitable, even though exact reduction and rigid fixation are achieved, thus patients are supposed to be counseled about the adverse outcome. Although crush and coronal shear fractures have poor outcome, sagittal injuries have good prognosis on long term evaluation.

Cortical blindness following spinal surgery: very rare cause of perioperative vision loss.

A 38-year-old man was operated with posterior spinal decompression and pedicle screw instrumentation for his L2 fracture with incomplete neurological deficit. In the recovery, he complained of blindness in both eyes after twelve hours. Computed tomographic scan and magnetic resonance angiography revealed bilateral occipital lobe infarcts. He remained permanently blind even after three years follow-up. Though rare, perioperative vision loss is a potential complication following spine surgery in prone position. We report a rare occurrence of cortical blindness following lumbar spine surgery.

Ipsilateral proximal and distal forearm fracture/fracture dislocation in children.

Fifteen children with segmental forearm fractures were classified into two groups based on their proximal injury pattern. Proximal injury in group A was either Monteggia fractures or its variant and in group B it was diaphyseal fractures. The distal lesions in both these groups were either a metaphyseal fracture or an epiphyseal separation, or a combination of these two. Eleven children of group A were managed conservatively, whereas three of four children in group B required open reduction. After 2.67 years of follow-up in 13 children, clinical outcome based on modified Boyd and Boal's criteria was good in eight and fair in two children of group A, and good in two children and fair in one child of group B. The clinical outcome of pediatric segmental forearm fractures is good (P=0.05) and it may frequently need surgical intervention when the proximal fracture is diaphyseal.

Isolated cystic tuberculosis of scapula; case report and review of literature.

Tubercular osteomylitis of scapula is extremely rare. The isolated involvement of this flat bone without any primary focus confuses the surgeon with other pathology and as a result there is always delay in diagnosis. This article discusses about an isolated multicystic tubercular lesion of scapula which remained untreated for about two years as the primary physician biased with the history of trauma and suspected it to be a post-traumatic hematoma. MRI picture was deceptive. Finally, diagnosis was established by fine needle aspiration which showed typical epitheloid granuloma on histology. Lack of awareness and nonspecific radiological picture may cause delay in diagnosis of scapular tuberculosis. Tuberculosis is an important consideration in isolated scapular swelling particularly in endemic regions and the histological diagnosis by fine needle aspiration may be helpful in cases of doubtful radiological pictures.