Clinical and Radiological Assessment of Acetabular Fracture

Abstract

Acetabular fractures are one of the rare injuries. They are usually occurring following a high energy trauma. The type of acetabular fractures is mainly depend on the position of the femoral head at the time of injury. The acetabular fracture are usually associated with visceral and neurovascular injuries. There can be anterior, posterior or central fracture dislocation associated with this injury. A closed degloving injury of the subcutaneous tissue which is detached from the underlying fascia-Morel-Lavelle lesion is also common feature. The sciatic nerve injury can be associated with posterior wall or column injuries. The most commonly used investigation are anteroposterior, Judet views and 2D/3D computerized tomography. Most commonly used classification is modified Judet and Letournel classification. They divided acetabular fractures into five simple fracture patterns and five associated fracture pattern. The Orthopedic trauma association modified Letournel classification and gave computerized coding. In this chapter, we are describing the clinical features and classification of acetabular fracture in a simple and vivid manner.