Certain acetabular fractures involve impaction of the weight-bearing dome and medialisation of the femoral head. Intra-operative fracture reduction is made easier by traction on the limb, ideally in line with the femoral neck (lateral traction). However, holding this lateral traction throughout surgery is very difficult for a tiring assistant.

We detail a previously undescribed technique of providing intra-operative lateral femoral head traction via a pelvic reduction frame, to aid fixation of difficult acetabular fractures. The first 10 consecutive cases are reviewed (Group 1) and compared with a retrospective control (Group 2, n=18) of case-matched patients, treated prior to introducing the technique. The post-operative X-rays and CT scans were assessed to identify quality of fracture reduction according to the criteria of Tornetta and Matta. Operative time, blood loss and early complication rates were also compared.

All cases in both groups were acute injuries with medial and/or superior migration of the femoral head. The majority were either associated both column or anterior column posterior hemi-transverse. There was no statistical difference between the groups in age, time to surgery, BMI or ASA grade.

Fracture reduction was assessed as excellent in seven, good in three and poor in one. This was not significantly different from the control group (p=0.093). The mean operative time was 232 minutes in Group 1 and 332.78 minutes in Group 2 (p = 0.0015). There was no difference between the groups for blood loss or complication rates.

We conclude that this new technique is at least equivalent to using manual traction and early results suggest it reduces operative time and technical difficulty in treating these complex acetabular fractures.