CONSISTENCY OF AO FRACTURE CLASSIFICATION FOR THE DISTAL RADIUS

We sought to quantify agreement by different assessors of the AO class ification for distal fractures of the radius. Thirty radiographs of ac ute distal radial fractures were evaluated by 36 assessors of varying clinical experience. Our findings suggest that AO 'type' and the prese nce or absence of articular displacement are measured with high consis tency when classification of distal radial fractures is undertaken by experienced observers. Assessors at all experience levels had difficul ty agreeing on AO 'group' and especially AO 'subgroup'. To categorise distal radial fractures according to joint displacement and AO type is simple and reproducible. Our study examined only whether distal radia l fractures could be consistently classified according to the AO syste m. Validation of the classification as a predictor of outcome will req uire a prospective clinical study.