Emergency Department Stress Radiographs of Lateral Compression Type-1 Pelvic Ring Injuries Are Safe, Effective, and Reliable.

BACKGROUND

Occult instability of lateral compression type-1 (LC1) pelvic ring injuries may be determined with a fluoroscopic stress examination under anesthesia (EUA) performed in the operating room. We hypothesized that LC1 injuries, similar to some fractures of the extremities, could be radiographically stressed for stability in the emergency department (ED). Our primary objective was to determine if stress examination of LC1 fractures could be safely and accurately performed in the ED and could be tolerated by patients.

METHODS

A prospective, consecutive series of 70 patients with minimally displaced LC1 pelvic injuries (<10-mm displacement on presentation) underwent stress examinations performed by the on-call orthopaedic resident in the ED radiology suite. The stress examination series included static 40° inlet, internal rotation stress inlet, and external rotation stress inlet views. Pelvic fractures that had positive stress results (≥10 mm of overlap of the rami) were indicated for a surgical procedure. These fractures also underwent EUA in order for the 2 techniques to be compared.

RESULTS

All patients tolerated the ED stress examination without general anesthetic or hemodynamic instability. Fifty-seven patients (81%) had negative stress results and were allowed to bear weight. All patients with negative stress results who had 3-month follow-up went on to radiographic union without substantial displacement. For the patients with a positive stress result in the ED, the mean displacement was 15.15 mm (95% confidence interval [CI], 10.8 to 19.4 mm) for the ED stress test and 15.60 mm (95% CI, 11.7 to 19.4 mm) for the EUA (p = 0.86). Two patients with a negative ED stress test did not mobilize during their hospitalization and underwent EUA and conversion to a surgical procedure. Thus, a total of 11 patients underwent both stress testing in the ED and EUA; no patient had a positive result on one test but a negative result on the other.

CONCLUSIONS

ED stress examination of LC1 injuries is a safe and reliable method to determine pelvic ring stability. The displacement measured in the ED stress examination is similar to the displacement measured under general anesthesia. Furthermore, a negative ED stress examination predicts successful nonoperative treatment. Given the results of this study, we encourage the use of stress examination in the ED for LC1-type injuries involving complete sacral fractures only. Widescale adoption of this streamlined protocol may substantially diminish cost, anesthetic risk, and potential operations for patients.

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE

Diagnostic Level II. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.