Treatment of Open Book Pelvic Fractures: Comparison Between Internal and External Fixation

Abstract

Background: An open-book pelvic fracture is used to describe any fracture that significantly disrupts the pelvic ring of human body. Internal and external fixation in treating open book pelvic fractures are two broadly used treatment methods. But we have very few comparative data regarding this issue. The aim of this study was to compare both internal and external fixation methods in the treatment of open book pelvic fractures. Methods: This prospective comparative study was conducted at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery in Shaheed Mansur Ali Medical College, Sirajganj, Bangladesh and The National Institute of Traumatology & Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR) during the period from January 2016 to December 2018. In total 100 patients with open-book pelvic fracture were obeyed all the inclusion and exclusion criteria and completed the full tenure of the intervention were finalized as the study population. Total population were divided into two groups. In Group I there were 50 participants who were treated by internal fixation method and in Group II there were 50 participants who were treated by external fixation method. Data were analyzed by SPSS Version 20 and disseminated by MS Office programs. Result: In the final follow-up of this study among total participants, there were 34 excellent, 30 good, 16 fair and 20 poor results. But, In Group I, 56% got excellent and 38% got good result. Besides these, only 4% got fair and 2% got poor result. On the other hand, the highest 38% participants got poor result. Then 28%, 22% and 12% got fair, good and excellent results respectively. This difference was statistically highly significant, the p-value was 0.013. Conclusion: After completing this comparative study it was found that the internal regarding outcome and complications the internal fixation method is better than external fixation method in treating open-book pelvic fracture.