Abstract
Introduction: The aim of the study was to provide accurate data regarding the incidence of large vessel injury as part of pelvic trauma in patients treated during a 12-year period. Methods: In total, 715 patients admitted and treated for pelvic fractures from 2001-2012 were analyzed.
Data on large vessel injuries (aorta, inferior vena cava, common iliac artery and vein) reported in perioperative or autopsy findings were obtained from the patient database. The statistical significance of achieved results was tested using contingency tables (chi-square test of independence or Fisher factorial test).
The significance level for the calculated tests was chosen to be 5%. Results: Sixty six (9%) patients died in the first hours after admission, 43 (6%) of them prior to surgery.
Seventy (10%) underwent urgent surgeries, 47 (7%) of whom survived and 23 (3%) died. A large vessel injury in the pelvic region was detected in 13 (2%) patients.
In the surviving surgical patients, a serious injury of pelvic venous plexus, as the only source of bleeding, was found only once (2%), while in patients who deceased post-surgically and pre-surgically, serious vascular injury in the pelvic region was diagnosed in 5 and 7 patients in both subgroups (22% and 41%, resp.). This difference was significantly higher in comparison with surviving patients (p=0.0002 and p=0.0109, resp.).
Conclusion: The incidence of large vessel injury with severe bleeding associated with pelvic trauma was low in our study; however, the risk of death in patients with this injury was significantly higher. The results of our study support the hypothesis that in most patients a large artery or vein injury in combination with massive bleeding from the venous plexus due to a dislocated pelvic fracture results in death even before arrival of emergency services.
This hypothesis could be verified in a study including also autopsy findings in persons who died even before hospital admission.