Nerve Injury With Acetabulum Fractures: Incidence and Factors Affecting Recovery

Objectives: To determine factors associated with nerve injury after acetabulum fracture and to evaluate recovery and outcomes. Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting: Level 1 trauma center. Patients and Participants: Nine hundred seventy-five skeletally mature patients with acetabulum fracture. Intervention: Operative and nonoperative management. Main Outcome Measurements: Nerve injuries, categorized as traumatic or iatrogenic, recovery (none, partial, or complete), and patient-reported functional outcomes with the Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (n = 353, 36.2%). Results: Thirty-two patients (3.3%) experienced nerve injury with 24 (78%) resulting from trauma and 23 with an associated posterior hip dislocation. Eight injuries (25%) were iatrogenic. Thirty-one (97%) occurred in patients with operative fractures (n = 738). The most common fracture pattern associated with nerve injury was transverse posterior wall (31% of injuries). Obesity was more common in patients with nerve injuries (59% vs. 30% in those without nerve injury (P = 0.001), but was not related to age or sex. Sixty-five percent of sciatic nerve injuries were to the common peroneal division only, while none were isolated to the tibial division. All iatrogenic injuries occurred after the ilioinguinal approach (P
Source: Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: Original Article Source Type: research