Abstract

PURPOSE
Hemorrhagic shock is the leading cause of death in patients with pelvic bone fractures. The majority of blood loss is due to injured pelvic arteries and retroperitoneal veins and to bleeding from the fracture site itself. Pelvic angiography and embolization of injured vessels is an effective way to control continuous bleeding. However, identifying the bleeding focus in hemodynamically unstable patients before diagnostic intervention is difficult. The purpose of this study was to determine the correlation between fracture patterns in hemodynamically unstable patients with pelvic fractures and later pelvic angiography findings.
METHODS
We performed a retrospective study of 21 hemodynamically unstable patients with pelvic fractures admitted to our emergency department between April 2001 to April 2006. All 21 patients underwent pelvic angiography. Pelvic fractures were assessed according to the Tile's classification and the degree of injury was assessed using the Injury Severity Score (ISS) and Revised Trauma Score (RTS). The hemodynamic status of the patients was defined using vital signs, base excess, and blood lactate. Fracture patterns were compared with hemodynamic status and angiography findings.
RESULTS
In the 5year study period, 21 hemodynamically unstable pelvic bone fracture patients were admitted; ten were men (47.6%), and 11 were women (52.4%). The mean age was 41.1 years (range: +/-20.1). Of the 21 embolization was performed in 6 patient (28.6%): 1 patient of the 5 unstable pelvic bone fracture patients (20%), and 5 patients of 16 the stable pelvic bone fracture patients (31.3%). There were no significant differences between the RTS (p=0.587) and embolization rate (p=0.774) for either the stable patients or the unstable patients. Patients with arterial injury on angiography had a lower RTS compared with patients without arterial injury but there was no significant difference in ISS between the two groups. The angiographic injured sites were five internal femoral arteries and one external femoral artery.
CONCLUSION
The findings in this study suggest that the pelvic fracture pattern in hemodynamically unstable patients with pelvic fractures does not correlate with pelvic angiography findings.

• Keywords: Pelvic boneAngiographyEmbolizationHemorrhagic shock