Complex elbow fracture-dislocations often result in suboptimal outcomes and necessitate a thorough understanding of injury patterns to guide effective management and reduce adverse sequelae. The Wrightington Classification System (WCS) offers a comprehensive approach and considers both bony and soft-tissue disruption, providing clearer guidance for treatment. This is the first external study to assess the reliability of the WCS for elbow fracture-dislocations. A blinded study of patients with elbow fracture-dislocations at a single institution between December 2014 and December 2022 was conducted. Five assessors with a range of experience, including orthopaedic surgeons and radiologists, independently classified injuries using the WCS across three image methods: plain radiograph, 2D CT, and 2D and 3D CT reconstruction images, on two occasions with an eight-week interval. Interobserver and intraobserver reliability were evaluated using kappa statistics and the Landis and Koch criteria.Aims
Methods
Tranexamic acid is a fibrinolytic inhibitor which reduces blood loss in total knee replacement. We examined the effect on blood loss of a standardised intravenous bolus dose of 1 g of tranexamic acid, given at the induction of anaesthesia in patients undergoing total hip replacement and tested the potential prothrombotic effect by undertaking routine venography. In all, 36 patients received 1 g of tranexamic acid, and 37 no tranexamic acid. Blood loss was measured directly per-operatively and indirectly post-operatively. Tranexamic acid reduced the early post-operative blood loss and total blood loss (p = 0.03 and p = 0.008, respectively) but not the intraoperative blood loss. The tranexamic acid group required fewer transfusions (p = 0.03) and had no increased incidence of deep-vein thrombosis. The reduction in early post-operative blood loss was more marked in women (p = 0.05), in whom this effect was dose-related (r = −0.793). Our study showed that the administration of a standardised pre-operative bolus of 1 g of tranexamic acid was cost-effective in reducing the blood loss and transfusion requirements after total hip replacement, especially in women.
