The pathological anatomy of Malgaigne fracture-dislocations of the pelvis

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Bucholz-RW J-Bone-Joint-Surg-Am. 1981 Mar; 63(3): 400-4 Despite renewed interest in the reduction and external fixation of pelvic disruptions, anatomical studies of such injuries are lacking. Of 150 consecutive victims of multiple trauma examined at autopsy, forty-seven (31 per cent) were found to have a pelvic injury. Twenty-six of the thirty-two cadavera that were examined radiographically and dissected had a double break in the pelvic ring (Malgaigne pattern). An anatomical classification based on the degree of posterior injury to the ring is proposed. Anatomical reduction of the posterior fracture-dislocation by external manipulation was impossible in the majority of cadavera because of either ligamentous or osseous interposition, or both, in the sacro-iliac joint, or because of triplane displacement of the hemipelvis.