Pelvic fracture geometry predicts risk of life-threatening hemorrhage in children

Abstract

Recent studies have concluded that pelvic fractures in children, unlike those in adults, are not a source of life-threatening hemorrhage. Our study hypothesis was that major bleeding occurs in children with pelvic fractures, and fracture geometry allows early identification of patients at risk for severe hemorrhage. Fifty-seven (5.5%) of 1044 pediatric trauma patients sustained pelvic fractures. The majority of injuries were from motor vehicle crashes (n = 21, 36.8%) and auto-pedestrian collisions (n = 18, 31.6%). Twenty-three children (40.4%) had unilateral anterior fractures (type I), seven (12.2%) had unilateral posterior fractures (type II), 23 (40.4%) had unilateral anterior and posterior fractures (type III), and four (7%) had bilateral anterior and posterior (type IV) fractures. Eighteen children (32.6%) required blood transfusions during the initial 48 hours (mean, 59 mL/kg). Skeletal fixation was applied in ten patients (17.5%), and it controlled bleeding in six (60%). Pelvic angiography identified arterial hemorrhage in three of four patients, and embolization controlled bleeding in all cases. The only death in the series (mortality, 1.7%) was from multisystem trauma. Age, sex, Injury Severity Score, Revised Trauma Score, mechanism of injury, and pelvic fracture geometry were evaluated as risk factors predictive of hemorrhage employing multiple logistic regression. Only pelvic fracture geometry independently identified patients at increased risk of major bleeding. We conclude that pelvic fracture geometry identifies a subset of pediatric trauma patients at high risk for life-threatening hemorrhage and urge a prompt multispecialty approach to these patients.