The Effect of Abdominal Subcutaneous Fat Tissue Thickness in Pelvic Trauma

Abstract

Aim: Obesity is a very important health problem throughout the world. The effect of obesity on trauma-related injuries is being investigated in contemporary literature. The weight of the patient is said to increase complications with the severity of trauma. The effect of obesity on pelvic trauma has been investigated in various studies in the literature. However, no similar study investigating the effect of obesity on acetabular fractures and accompanying femoral head fractures has been found. Our aim in this study is to determine the incidence of accompanying femoral head fractures in adult cases with acetabulum fracture and to investigate whether abdominal subcutaneous fat tissue thickness has an effect on this coexistence. Material and Method: Pelvic CT scans taken in our hospital due to trauma were retrospectively reevaluated and cases with acetabulum fracture were detected. These cases were divided into two separate groups: those with isolated acetabulum fractures and those with acetabulum-and accompanying femoral head fractures. Abdominal subcutaneous fat tissue thicknesses of all cases were measured via CT scan. It has been investigated whether there is a statistically significant difference between the two groups in terms of subcutaneous fat tissue thickness. Results: A total of 95 acetabular fractures were detected. In 22 cases (23.2%), femoral head impaction fracture was present in addition to acetabulum fracture. In the remaining 73 cases (76.8%), the femur head was normal. The average abdominal subcutaneous fat tissue thickness was 24.4 (±9.2) mm in isolated acetabular fracture cases, and 30.4 (±8) mm in cases with acetabulum and accompanying femoral head fractures. Abdominal subcutaneous fat thickness was significantly higher in patients with femoral head fracture in addition to acetabulum (p=0.006). Conclusion: It's possible to say that abdominal subcutaneous fat accumulation increases the risk of femoral head fracture development by increasing the severity of trauma, thus increasing the morbidity.