ASSOCIATED INJURIES AND NOT FRACTURE INSTABILITY PREDICT MORTALITY IN PELVIC FRACTURES: A PROSPECTIVE STUDY OF 100 PATIENTS.

Background: Whether pelvic fracture instability is correlated to mortality in blunt multi-trauma patients is debatable. This is the first prospective study on patients with pelvic fractures aiming at finding whether pelvic fracture type affects mortality.Methods: 100 consecutive patients (77 males, mean age of 31 (3–73) years) were studied between September 2003 and October 2004. Data were collected regarding mechanism of injury, associated injuries, injury severity score (ISS), blood transfusions and mortality. The fractures were classified according to instability where type O is stable, type R rotationally unstable and type RV both rotationally and vertically unstable. Since a pure acetabular fracture is a single break in the pelvic ring, we classified it as type O. Computer tomography was used for fracture classification in 73 patients and plain X-rays in 27 patients.Results: 77 fractures were caused by road traffic collisions. Type O fractures (n 63) had lower median ISS (13(4–48)) than type R (n 19)...