[Surgical treatment of acetabular fractures. Long term outcomes]

acetabular fractures constitute between 0.3 and 0.6% of all observed fractures, being these injuries relatively infrequent.

to evaluate clinical and radiological outcomes of surgical treatment of patients with acetabular fracture treated in our hospital with a minimal follow-up of 11.5 years. The secondary objective is to determine the rate of failure in the hip joint of these patients and establish risk factors that are involved.

23 patients with acetabular fractures that were treated by open reduction and internal fixation (ORIF) were retrospectively analysed. They were follow-up during an average of 14 years (range 11.5-17.5). Fractures were classified by Judet y Letournel as simple or complex. Clinical and radiological outcomes were analysed by Harris scale.

We obtained an average of 81.90/100 on the Harris scale, aiming at better outcomes on simple fractures compare to those that were complex (p = 0.027). Higher scores were also achieved on those patients with an anatomical reduction (p = 0.033). Three patients required revision and placement of a total arthoplasty (13%). However, patients with body mass index (BMI) > 30 tend to achieve poor clinical results (p = 0.151).

ORIF may be suggested for acetabular fractures since good clinical and radiological outcomes were recorded on a long-term follow-up. Complex fractures, non-anatomical reduction and BMI > 30 were identified as risk factors to coxarthrosis progression.