Der Unfallchirurg
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There are numerous orthopaedic applications of three-dimensional (3D) printing for the pelvis and acetabulum. The authors reviewed recently published articles and summarized their experience. 3D printed anatomical models are particularly useful in pelvic and acetabular fracture surgery for planning, implant templating and for anatomical assessment of pathologies such as CAM-type femoroacetabular impingement and rare deformities. Custom-made metal 3D printed patient-specific implants and instruments are increasingly being studied for pelvic oncologic resection and reconstruction of resected defects as well as for revision hip arthroplasties with favourable results. This article also discusses cost-effectiveness considerations when preparing pelvic 3D printed models from a hospital 3D printing centre.
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Geriatric sacral fractures represent an independent fracture entity of increasing incidence and growing socioeconomic relevance. The goals of treatment are very different to those in younger patients with high-energy pelvic fractures. Hence, new outcome measurement instruments are required in order to assess the success of treatment. ⋯ At present our knowledge about the natural course of geriatric sacral fractures is limited by the lack of well-validated instruments to measure functional and radiographic outcomes. This has to be considered when evaluating the success of new treatment options for these patients. Future studies should validate existing scores for this population and develop new specific outcome instruments.
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In multiply injured patients, the time period between the initial treatment with external fixators (damage control) and the definitive treatment can last from days to weeks. A poor reduction result with the fixator (e.g. malposition in axis, length and rotation) and a long delay from trauma to definitive osteosynthesis are associated with longer operation times, higher intraoperative radiation doses, higher infection rates and an increased likelihood for the necessity to perform an open reduction. ⋯ Severely injured patients who initially receive stabilization according to the damage control principle and subsequently remain in the intensive care unit, could particularly benefit from the described postoperative reduction technique. In addition, the reduction fixator can be helpful for the definitive treatment of patients with bilateral fractures of long bones, where a reference to a healthy side is not possible.
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The incidence and character of civil mass casualty incidents (MCI) has changed in the last decades, in particular because of the rising number of terrorist attacks. As a result, the question arises whether commonly used tools of prevention and prehospital planning, including the distribution of triage categories (T1 severely injured/T2 seriously injured/T3 slightly injured) with 15%/20%/60% have to be modified. The rescue workers make the classification of the triage categories in MCIs at the scene. The aim of this article is to verify the planning size of variable distribution of the triage categories. ⋯ An incidence of 10% T1, 17% T2, 49% T3 and 5% deaths was detected (median). Due to the previously use of the average of the triage categories in the contingency plan, the calculation showed a slightly different distribution from 15%/30%/55%. Of the events 7 were natural disasters, 227 terrorist attacks, 9 accidents and 1 mass panic. Natural disasters showed a higher than average death rate (11%), especially landslide incidents (67%). Civilian accidents showed a distribution of T of 10%/17%/55%, with train derailments having twice as many T1 patients and plane crashes just under twice as many T2 patients. In the case of terrorist attacks, the expected planning parameters were not quite achieved with 14%/15%/39%. Especially "combined hits" and amok driving had high incidences of T1 patients (18% and 21%, respectively). In addition, the T2 patients with 42% in amok driving and 48% in mass panics were well above the planning size of 20% and 30%, respectively. Calculation of the severity factor according to deBoer for amok driving and the result that at S ≥ 1.5 many seriously injured persons can be suspected, amok driving showed the highest degree of severity (S = 1.8) in our study. This indicates the severity of a disaster depending on the number of casualties per triage category.