Jeffrey W. Mast

A new periacetabular osteotomy of the pelvis has been used for the treatment of residual hip dysplasias in adolescents and adults. The identification of the joint capsule is performed through a Smith-Petersen approach, which also permits all osteotomies to be performed about the acetabulum. This osteotomy does not change the diameter of the true pelvis, but allows an extensive acetabular reorientation including medial and lateral displacement. Preparations and injections of the vessels of the hip joint on cadavers have shown that the osteotomized fragment perfusion after correction is sufficient. Because the posterior pillar stays mechanically intact the acetabular fragment can be stabilized sufficiently using two screws. This stability allows patients to partially bear weight after osteotomy without immobilization. Since 1984, 75 periacetabular osteotomies of the hip have been performed. The corrections are 31 degrees for the vertical center-edge (VCE) angle of Wiberg and 26 degrees for the corresponding angle of Lequesne and de Seze in the sagittal plane. Complications have included two intraarticular osteotomies, a femoral nerve palsy that resolved, one nonunion, and ectopic bone formation in four patients prior to the prophylactic use of indomethacin. Thirteen patients required screw removal. There was no evidence of vascular impairment of the osteotomized fragment.

Seven patients, with an average age of 53 years, were treated for bone loss or recalcitrant nonunions of the femur. The average duration from initial injury to presentation was 37 months (range 4-92 months). The patients had undergone one to eight (mean, 3.9) previous surgical attempts at achieving union. The nonunion involved the diaphysis in three patients, the diaphyseal-supracondylar junction in three patients, and the pertrochanteric region in one patient. All patients were treated using a standard lateral plate in combination with an endosteal plate and primary iliac crest bone grafting. The mean surgical time was 6.3 h, and the average blood loss was 1.7 L. There were three complications, including one superficial wound infection, one nonfatal pulmonary embolism, and one wound hematoma. At a mean follow-up of 12.6 months (range 4-24 months), all fractures had healed with an average time to union of 19.2 weeks (range 15-36 weeks). Knee flexion averaged 118 degrees (range 100-135 degrees), and all patients were satisfied with the operative procedure. Endosteal plating, in combination with a standard lateral plate and iliac crest bone-grafting, can successfully treat difficult nonunions of the femur.

The results were retrospectively analyzed of 47 subtrochanteric fractures of the femur treated with a 95 degrees condylar blade-plate to establish whether two different surgical techniques yielded different results. Before 1981, treatment consisted of extensive visualization of the fracture lines, permitting anatomic reduction of all fragments, stable internal fixation with the blade-plate, and optional autologous bone grafting as recommended by the AO group. Twenty-four fractures were treated accordingly and constituted Group I of this study. In 1981, visualization of the fracture lines was abandoned, especially at the medial cortex; an indirect reduction technique was used to gain optimal alignment and stability without aiming at anatomic reduction, and bone grafting was discontinued. Twenty-three patients were treated accordingly and constituted Group II. The use of prophylactic antibiotics as a routine for all major trauma was instituted at the time the surgical technique was changed. Thus, only two of the 24 patients in Group I received antibiotics as opposed to 20 of the 23 patients in Group II. Average time to bony union for those fractures that healed primarily was 5.4 months in Group I and 4.2 months in Group II. Delayed or nonunion was 16.6% in Group I and 0% in Group II, and the infection rate was 20.8% versus 0% in the two groups. The four cases with a delayed union were aseptic, but three of the four nonunions were infected. The functional end result was comparable for both groups.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the prevalence, morphology, and prognosis of anterior (transolecranon) fracture-dislocations of the elbow. DESIGN: Retrospective case series. SETTING: A consecutive series of thirteen patients from a single level-one trauma center, plus four patients from the practices of two of the senior authors. PATIENTS: Three of seventeen patients had simple, oblique fractures of the olecranon, and fourteen had complex, comminuted fractures of the proximal ulna, including fragmentation of the olecranon in seven patients, large coronoid fragments in eight patients, and segmental fractures of the ulna in six patients. Fourteen patients were male and three were female, with an average age of thirty-eight years (range, 18 to 78 years). INTERVENTION: All fractures were treated by open reduction and internal fixation. Two one-third tubular plates had to be revised to 3.5-millimeter dynamic compression plates within six weeks of the initial operation. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: Elbow performance rating of Broberg and Morrey. RESULTS: At an average follow-up of twenty-five months, overall outcome was rated as excellent in seven patients, good in eight, and fair in two. Mild posttraumatic arthritis was noted in only two patients. Large coronoid fragments and extensive comminution of the trochlear notch did not preclude a good result provided that stable, anatomic fixation was achieved. CONCLUSIONS: Anterior elbow dislocations occur most often as a fracture-dislocation in which the distal humerus is driven through the olecranon, thereby causing a complex, comminuted fracture of the proximal ulna. This injury is frequently confused with anterior Monteggia lesions by virtue of the readily apparent radiocapitellar dislocation. Stable restoration of the appropriate contour and dimensions of the trochlear notch of the ulna will lead to a good result in most cases.

1: Rationale.- 2: Anticipation (Preoperative Planning).- Fractures and Post-traumatic Residuals.- Osteotomies.- The Goals of Planning.- Preoperative Planning by Direct Overlay Technique: The Making of a Jigsaw Puzzle.- Preoperative Planning of an Acute Fracture Using the Sound Side: Solving the Jigsaw Puzzle.- 3: Reduction with Plates.- Using a Straight Plate as a Reduction Aid.- Reduction of a Distal Third Oblique Fracture of the Tibia by Means of an Antiglide Plate.- Fractures of the Fibula.- Forearm Fractures.- Acetabular Fractures.- Using the Angled Blade Plate as a Reduction Tool.- Proximal Femur.- Summary.- 4: Reduction with Distraction.- The Femoral Distractor.- The External Fixator in Reduction and Internal Fixation of Os Calcis Fractures.- The Minidistractor.- Summary.- 5: Substitution.- Combined Internal and External Fixation.- Composite Fixation.- Summary.- 6: Tricks.- Tricks with Instruments.- Tricks with Implants.- References.