- Discussion:
- based on the assessment of stability;
- lesions are graded as Type I, Type II, or Type III depending on degree of instability;
- Bucholz noted that on postmortem dissection of pts w/ pelvic fractures that all injuries to pelvic ring had some injury to both anterior and posterior portions of the pelvis;
- Type I:
- injuries for which the roentgenograms reveal only anterior rami frxs demonstrated at least hemorrhage & partial disruption of posterior SI ligaments;
- Type II:
- lesion is similar to the AP compression lesion;
- it is characterized by the presence of anterior instability and partial posterior instability.
- Type III:
- lesion demonstrates complete anterior and posterior instability;
- it may be due to vertical shear, Lateral Compression, or complex mechanism of injury;
- instability is secondary to both the bony and the ligamentous disruption of pelvic ring;
- degree of ligamentous disruption is a key to stability because fracture alone will not produce instability without associated displacement and ligamentous disruption