What does a comminuted fracture mean?
A comminuted (kah-muh-NOOT-ed) fracture is a type of broken bone. The bone is broken into more than two pieces.
What does comminuted fracture mean in medical terms?
One kind is a comminuted fracture. This injury happens when your bone breaks into three or more pieces. Fractures can be open or closed. If your skin breaks open from the wound, doctors call it a comminuted open or compound fracture.
What is a comminuted fracture and what causes it?
Comminuted fracture is characterized by the breaking of a bone into several small pieces and is the result of high velocity injuries, such as car accidents, falls from a height, or high-energy injuries with tissue loss caused by fragments from explosive devices on the battlefields.
What is a comminuted leg fracture?
Displaced, comminuted: A fracture where the bones are broken in several fragments and are not aligned. This fracture can be caused by high-energy trauma, such as a car accident or being struck by a vehicle. The treatment includes setting the bone without surgery and a long-leg cast worn for four to eight weeks.
Is a comminuted fracture complete?
Comminuted fracture – The bone is broken into pieces, which may require surgery for complete healing. Greenstick fracture – The bone cracks but doesn’t break all the way through — like what happens when you try to break a green stick of wood.
What is the most common cause of a comminuted fracture?
A comminuted fracture leaves the bone in fragments. It is most common after severe trauma, such as a car accident, and is more likely to occur in the hands or feet.
Do comminuted fractures take longer to heal?
Healing can take several months in severely comminuted and open tibia fractures (4) (Fig. 39-11), and pin loosening is likely to occur during such long healing times if simple frames are used. Severely comminuted fractures, especially in older cats, are therefore best stabilized with a type II configuration.
Is a comminuted fracture common?
Comminuted fractures are more common than simple transverse fractures. Even fractures that appear simple on the radiograph often have fissuring of the fracture fragments or avulsion of larger cortical fracture fragments, especially in young cats.
Who is most likely to get a comminuted break?
3. Comminuted Fracture. A comminuted fracture leaves the bone in fragments. It is most common after severe trauma, such as a car accident, and is more likely to occur in the hands or feet.
Can a comminuted fracture be Nondisplaced?
If the bone is in many pieces, it is called a comminuted fracture. In a non-displaced fracture, the bone cracks either part or all of the way through, but does move and maintains its proper alignment.
Which is the best definition of a comminuted fracture?
Comminuted Fracture Definition. A comminuted fracture is a break or splinter of the bone into more than two fragments. Since considerable force and energy is required to fragment bone, fractures of this degree occur after high-impact trauma such as in vehicular accidents.
How is a hairline fracture different from a comminuted fracture?
There are other, more specific, terms for fractures beyond “comminuted”. Muscles or ligaments can pull on the bone, causing an avulsion fracture. Fracture dislocation is when one of the bones in a dislocated shoulder is broken. Hairline fractures are partial and are harder to spot by routine x-rays.
Do you need a cast for a comminuted fracture?
Comminuted fractures very often require more invasive treatment. Splints, casts, and other external fixation devices are usually inadequate in this situation. The complications are because of the multiple breaks in the bone and the serious trauma event which usually causes them.
Can a comminuted fracture be fixed with bony stock?
They are, however, contraindicated for comminuted fractures, as there tends to be shortening or displacement of such fractures around these small nails. This was imminent in the comminuted fracture as the amount of bony stock available for fixation could be very limited.