Association between floating fat sign and delayed extensor pollicis longus tendon rupture in patients with distal...

Delayed extensor pollicis longus (EPL) rupture is a known complication of distal radius fractures (DRF). Identifying predictive imaging findings could aid in early risk stratification. This study aims to evaluate the association between floating fat signs in patients with DRF and delayed EPL rupture.

In this retrospective study, we included 352 consecutive patients with DRF from a single institution. Of these patients, 12 experienced an EPL rupture, while 340 had no tendon-associated complications. We evaluated the preoperative CT scans of patients with DRF. For the second and third extensor compartments, we visually graded the floating fat sign on a semi-quantitative Likert scale (0-2). We assessed the presence of bone fragments, Lister's tubercle fracture type, fracture gap, intra-articular fracture, and articular step-off in intra-articular fractures.

The sum of floating fat sign scores in the second and third compartments was significantly correlated with the rate of EPL rupture in all patients (p < 0.001), as well as in the subgroup analysis of conservative treatment and volar plating groups (p = 0.009 and 0.001, respectively). Univariate analysis showed significant differences between the EPL rupture and non-rupture groups regarding the treatment choice (p = 0.001) and the sum of the floating fat sign scores (p < 0.001). Conservative treatment and sum of floating fat sign scores of 3 and 4 were independent predictive indicators of EPL rupture (p = 0.001, Odds ratio [OR] = 0.04; p = 0.006, OR = 38.22; and p = 0.022, OR = 25.54, respectively).

The floating fat sign in DRF is associated with EPL rupture and could help predict delayed EPL rupture.