A Prospective Evaluation of the Clinical Presentation of Pediatric Pelvic Fractures

Background: We sought to describe pediatric, blunt trauma patients with pelvic fracture (PF) and to evaluate pelvis examination sensitivity and specificity.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study of blunt trauma patients at a Level I pediatric trauma center. A pediatric emergency medicine physician attempted to diagnose a PF, solely on the basis of the history and pelvis examination. Patients with blunt trauma but no pelvic fracture (NPF) were used as controls.

Results: We enrolled 140 patients (16 PF, 124 NPF), and no significant differences were found regarding median age, gender, injury mechanism, acuity, and medical outcome. Approximately 25% of PF patients had iliac-wing fractures; 37%, single pelvic ring; 25%, double pelvic ring; and 13%, acetabular fractures. Eleven patients with PF had an abnormal pelvis examination (69% sensitivity), compared with six NPF patients (95% specificity, negative predictive value 0.91).

Conclusion: Pediatric patients with PF have low mortality and few complex fractures. The pelvis examination appears to have both high specificity and negative predictive value.