OBJECTIVETalar body fractures are rare and have poor treatment outcome. The purpose of this study is to report the long term surgical treatment outcome of closed talar dome fractures.

METHODSEight closed talar body fractures, treated by open reduction and internal fixation with small fragment cancellous screws and/or Herbert screws in our level I trauma centre were retrospectively analyzed. Preoperative and postoperative radiographs of the foot (antero-posterior, lateral and oblique views) and ankle (antero-posterior, lateral and mortise views) were obtained. The patients were followed up both radiologically and functionally (foot function index, FFI) after 3 weeks, 6 weeks, 3 months, 6 months and then annually.

RESULTSThere were five crush fractures and three shear fractures (two sagittal shear and one coronal shear), with average follow-up of 5 years. No early complications were noticed in these patients. Late complications included osteoarthrosis of subtalar/ankle joints in six patients and osteonecrosis of talar body in four patients. On functional assessment, mean FFI after 5 years was 104.63 points and worse outcome was noticed in crush injury and coronal shear fractures. Sagittal shear fractures had a good functional and radiological outcome.

CONCLUSIONSLate complications subsequent to surgically treated talar body fractures are inevitable, even though exact reduction and rigid fixation are achieved, thus patients are supposed to be counseled about the adverse outcome. Although crush and coronal shear fractures have poor outcome, sagittal injuries have good prognosis on long term evaluation.

Ankle Joint ; Fracture Fixation, Internal ; Fractures, Bone ; surgery ; Humans ; Talus ; injuries ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo define the preoperative and intraoperative variables which may affect the immediate postoperative outcome in surgically managed patients with unstable pelvic fractures.

METHODSThis study was performed prospectively from January 2009 to June 2011 on 36 consecutive patients admitted to the trauma ward of Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, with unstable pelvic injuries.

RESULTSIn the present study of 36 patients, 29 were managed surgically. Surgical duration was 2 hours in patients operated on within 1 week and 3.4 hours in those operated on after 1 week. The blood loss was 550 ml when surgery was done after a week, but when done within a week it was 350 ml. The average blood loss through Pfanenstial approach was 360 ml, through posterior approach was 408 ml and through combined approach was 660 ml which was significantly high.

CONCLUSIONAnterior approach to the pelvis would cause significantly more amount of blood loss than posterior approach and external fixation. Surgical approaches do not have any influence on the surgical duration or the infection rate. The blood loss significantly increases when the surgical time is more than 1 h. The infection rate is not influenced by the duration of surgery. Presence or absence of associated injuries to the head, chest or abdomen is the main determinants of patient's survival and it greatly influences the duration of hospital stay.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Female ; Fractures, Bone ; surgery ; Humans ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pelvic Bones ; injuries ; surgery ; Prospective Studies ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome

A 38-year-old man was operated with posterior spinal decompression and pedicle screw instrumentation for his L2 fracture with incomplete neurological deficit. In the recovery, he complained of blindness in both eyes after twelve hours. Computed tomographic scan and magnetic resonance angiography revealed bilateral occipital lobe infarcts. He remained permanently blind even after three years follow-up. Though rare, perioperative vision loss is a potential complication following spine surgery in prone position. We report a rare occurrence of cortical blindness following lumbar spine surgery.
Adult ; Blindness ; Blindness, Cortical ; Decompression ; Eye ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Angiography ; Occipital Lobe ; Prone Position ; Spinal Injuries ; Spine ; Vision, Ocular