Assessing Postoperative Reduction After Acetabular Fracture Surgery: A Standardized Digital Computed Tomography-Based Method

Abstract

Quality of reduction after acetabular fracture surgery is an important predictor of clinical outcome. Computed tomography (CT) is likely superior to plain pelvic radiography for assessment of postoperative reduction, but interobserver reliability may be limited in the absence of a widely adopted technique. We describe a standardized digital CT-based method for measuring residual (gap and step) displacement on CT after acetabular fracture surgery. In a selection of patients, we determined the interobserver reliability for measuring displacement and grading the quality of reduction on postoperative pelvic radiography and CT, with and without the use of this novel technique.