[Management of complex pelvic injuries]

Compound pelvic fractures can be mastered only by means of an active surgical procedure. If the shock cannot be controlled by conservative treatment, early angiography followed by embolisation should be done. Alternatively to embolisation, control of haemorrhage can be achieved by specific ligation, reconstruction of the vessels or tamponade with mandatory laparotomy. Septic complications can be prevented by a liberal indication of derivative colostomy with irrigation of the rectal segment by copious amounts of saline solution, by suprapubic urinary drainage and meticulous "debridement" of soft tissue. The procedure is presented in detail.