Factors affecting the functional outcome of surgically managed displaced acetabular fractures

Purpose of study: To evaluate the impact of various factors on functional outcome of surgically managed displaced acetabular fractures.

Methods: In this prospective study 50 cases of surgically managed displaced acetabular fractures were followed up to a mean of 28.6±4 months (18-48 months). The effect of age, associated injuries, fracture pattern (elementary/associated type), time to surgery (<2 weeks/>2 weeks), accuracy of reduction (anatomical/imperfect/poor), gender and associated hip dislocation on the clinical outcome was evaluated using Harris hip score and modified Postel Merle d'Aubigné score.

Results: The mean age was 36.6±11.9 years (range 19-67 years). There were 76% (n=38) males and 24% (n=12) females. 82% (n=41) patients sustained fracture due to motor vehicle accident. 60% of the cases had associated injuries. The mean Harris hip score at final follow-up was 80.96±8.9 and mean modified Merle d'Aubigné and Postel score was 15.1±2.4. The Harris Hip score and modified Postel Merle d'Aubigné score was significantly affected by presence of associated injuries (P=0.0025 and 0.0037 respectively), time to surgery (P=0.0087 and 0.0093 respectively), fracture pattern (P=0.015 and 0.023 respectively), associated hip dislocation (P=0.011 and 0.008 respectively), accuracy of reduction (P<0.05) and age (P<0.05), but gender (P=0.78 and 0.93 respectively) didn't have any significant effect on the clinical outcome.

Conclusion: The presence of associated injuries, concomitant hip dislocation, associated type of fracture patterns, elderly age (more than 60 years), sub optimal fracture reduction and delay in surgery beyond 2 weeks are factors that lead to statistically significant suboptimal functional scores.