Disruption of the pelvic ring in pediatric patients

Pelvic ring disruptions are rare in children. Generally, nonoperative treat ment has been recommended for children with these injuries. The authors ret rospectively reviewed the medical records and radiographs of 189 patients w ith pelvic ring disruptions who were evaluated at a tertiary care children' s hospital during a 10-year period. Of the 189 patients, 57 were identified with unstable pelvic fractures. These fractures were classified according to Tile, and Torode and Zieg. Forty-three of these patients were available to complete a subjective evaluation of their treatment at midterm followup. Thirteen patients were treated operatively and 30 were treated nonoperativ ely. There was no significant difference in subjective scoring between the two groups for pain at rest, pain with activity, limp, leg length discrepan cy, and overall satisfaction with treatment. Overall, there were 92% good o r excellent results in the patients who were treated operatively and 80% go od or excellent results in the patients who were treated nonoperatively. Pa tients in both groups reported a high level of satisfaction with their outc ome regardless of their fracture classification and treatment method.