Percutaneous treatment of pelvic and acetabular fractures in obese patients

A body mass index (BMI) greater than 30 is becoming increasingly common in the United States. Surgery for pelvic and acetabular fractures in this population is particularly problematic because conventional treatment often requires large surgical exposures. The surgery for both these fractures is technically difficult because of the volume of soft tissue and proneness to complications. Wound problems and infections are particularly common after open surgery in obese patients, and these increase linearly with the BMI. In this article, we present a small consecutive series over 14 months on obese patients who underwent percutaneous treatment of their pelvic or acetabular fractures.