- Title
- AO type-C distal radius fractures: the influence of computed tomography on surgeon's decision-making
- Creator
- Hunt, Joshua J.; Lumsdaine, William; Attia, John; Balogh, Zsolt J.
- Relation
- ANZ Journal of Surgery Vol. 83, Issue 9, p. 676-678
- Publisher Link
- http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1445-2197.2012.06311.x
- Publisher
- Wiley-Blackwell
- Resource Type
- journal article
- Date
- 2013
- Description
- Background: Computed tomography (CT) has become a widely accepted adjunct imaging tool in the preoperative evaluation of complex intra-articular distal radius fractures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of CT scanning compared with plain X-rays on the choice of intervention in complex distal radius fractures. Methods: Five orthopaedic surgeons were given the de-identified plain films (AP, lateral and oblique) of 20 closed complex intra-articular distal radius fractures (AO23-C), randomly selected from our institution's prospectively maintained fracture database. Each surgeon individually selected a management option for each patient from a series of five interventions, ranked in increasing level of invasiveness. The same patients' CT scans (in randomized order) were blindly reviewed after a 1-week interval by the same clinicians with the same management options again offered. Kappa statistic was used to measure the intra-observer agreement between X-ray and CT decisions, and inter-observer agreement within each modality. Results: The intra-observer agreement on management between X-rays alone versus CT scan was poor, with an average kappa score of 0.038. Inter-observer agreement based on X-ray alone was higher than that based on CT alone. Regression analysis indicated a trend towards a slightly higher level of invasiveness when the management decision was based on the CT compared with plain X-rays. Conclusion: There is a very poor intra- and inter-rater agreement between decision-making based on X-ray and on CT. Decision-making based on CT could increase the level of invasiveness in the surgical management of complex distal radius fractures.
- Subject
- computed tomography; external fixators; internal fixation; Kirschner wires; radius fracture
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1318186
- Identifier
- uon:23582
- Identifier
- ISSN:1445-1433
- Language
- eng
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