A Novel Method of Treatment of Small Osteolabral Avulsions Associated with Posterior Fracture dislocation of the Hip

Abstract

Small osteolabral avulsions of the hip can be easily missed, and postreduction stress testing and computed tomography (CT) scans of the hip should be performed to look for these injuries. The usual modality of treatment of these unstable osteolabral avulsions is suture anchors, Herbert screws or spring plates. But when the bony avulsion is small, the use of these implants becomes a tedious job. We present a novel technique to fix small osteochondral avulsion fractures not amenable to fixation using screws or spring plates.

We performed a retrospective analysis of 57 cases of patients who underwent open reduction and internal fixation for posterior fracture dislocation of the acetabulum, and we identified 6 cases of small posterior labral osteochondral fragments leading to instability. These injuries were fixed using a novel method. The mean Harris Hip Score at the final follow-up was of 92.5. Fixation of osteochondral avulsions associated with posterior hip fracture dislocation can be a difficult task if the bony fragment is small. Our technique is a simple, cost-effective and reliable way of fixing such avulsions with satisfactory outcomes.

Keywords
acetabulum; femur head; fractures, bone; hip dislocation