Impact of Prolonged Skeletal Traction in Patients With Acetabular Fractures

Objectives: To explore the association between increased time in traction and in-hospital pulmonary complications in patients with acetabular fractures. Design: Retrospective. Setting: Level I trauma center. Patients/Participants: One hundred ninety consecutive patients. Intervention: Application of skeletal traction before fixation of acetabular fracture. Main Outcome Measurements: The primary outcome measure was pulmonary complication as defined by pulmonary embolism, pneumonia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome. Secondary outcome measures included length of intensive care unit stay (in days), total length of hospital stay (in days), deep hardware-associated infection, subsequent conversion to total hip arthroplasty, urinary tract infection, and lower-extremity deep venous thrombosis. Results: The mean time in traction for patients who developed a pulmonary complication was 210 hours compared with 62 hours for those who did not (P
Source: Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma - Category: Orthopaedics Tags: Original Article Source Type: research