Henrik C. Bäcker, Chia H. Wu, J. T. Vosseller, Aristomenis K. Exadaktylos, Lorin Benneker, Fabian Krause, Sven Hoppe, Christoph E. Albers


October 2020, Volume 29, Issue 10, pp 2513 - 2520 Original Article Read Full Article 10.1007/s00586-019-05983-6

First Online: 29 April 2019

Spinopelvic dissociation in patients suffering injuries from airborne sports

Background

Spinopelvic dissociation which is also called U-type or referred to H-type sacral fractures with a transverse fracture line is an infrequent injury that results mainly from high-energy accidents. This results in an osseous dissociation of the upper central segment of the sacrum and the entire spine from the lower sacral segments.

The purpose was to investigate the incidence of spinopelvic fracture in general among airborne injuries.

Patients and methods

Using our electronic patient records, we retrospectively investigated all sacral fractures related to airborne sports between 2010 and 2017. All injuries were classified according to the Roy-Camille, Denis, AOSpine and the Tile classification system.

Results

During the period of interest, 44 patients (18.7%) were admitted with sacral fractures after accidents obtained from airborne sports, including 16 spinopelvic dissociations (36.4%). The majority of these injuries were obtained from paragliding (75.0%), followed by BASE jumping (21.4%) and parachuting (4%). The mean injury severity score (ISS) in the spinopelvic dissociation group was significantly higher compared with other sacral fracture group (38.1 vs. 20.0; p 

Conclusion

Airborne sports have high potential for serious, life-threatening injuries with a high incidence of spinopelvic dissociation. In the literature, the prevalence of spinopelvic dissociation in sacral fractures is described to be between 3 and 5%. In our series, the prevalence is 36.4%. It is important to identify the potential injuries promptly for the further treatment.

Graphical abstract

These slides can be retrieved under Electronic Supplementary Material.[graphic not available: see fulltext]


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