Pelvic Ring Fractures

Abstract

Pelvic ring fractures are serious, usually high-energy injuries. Standard advanced trauma life support (ATLS) protocol must be followed in order to rule out concomitant injury, as these may be life threatening. Fractures are generally broken up into lateral compression fractures (implosion) and anterior-posterior compression (explosion) patterns. The fractures and associated injuries can be significant and bear long-term sequelae; thus proper assessment, classification, and treatment are mandated to limit poor outcomes (Tile et al. Fractures of the Pelvis and Acetabulum. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2003; Egol et al. Handbook of Fractures. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2010; Weiss et al. Review of Orthopedics. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2012; Rockwood et al. Rockwood and Green’s Fractures in Adults. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2001; Guyton Campbell’s Operative Orthopedics. Philadelphia: Elsevier, 2013).