Surgical management of fracture of acetabulum

Objective: early mobilize the patient with displaced acetabular fractures with operative management. patients and methods: this prospective study was carried out from april 1998 to december,2000 in the department of orthopaedics,jinnah postgraduate medical centre,karachi. eighteen patients having results of operative treatment of displaced acetabular fractures were selected. adult patients with displacement of fracture >2mm and intra-articular fragment interfering with joint movement were included in the study. patients with severe osteoporotic bone,infection and gunshot injury involving acetabulum were excluded from the study. indications for operation and for conservative treatment were multifold. diagnosis was based on plain anterioposterior roentgenographs of pelvis and special judet oblique images. in few cases ct scan was also done to classify the acetabular fracture. results: there were 16 males and 2 females between 30-40 years of age. conclusion: the operative treatment of displaced acetabular fractures gives universally satisfactory results. open reduction and internal fixation markedly reduced hospital stay.