This is a basic article for medical students and other non-radiologists
Describing fracture displacement is really important when assessing a fracture. The type and degree of displacement will have a significant effect on the management plan and prognosis.
Reference article
This is a summary article. For more information, you can read a more in-depth reference articles: fracture displacement.
Summary
When describing a fracture, displacement is important to assess and describe. It comes in three main flavors:
-
translation
- known by a couple of other names:
- "translocation"
- "displacement"
- confusingly there is inconsistent use of the word
- a line drawn down the center of the bone is not continuous
- there is a step at the fracture site
- describe
- the direction of translation of the distal fracture component
- the amount of translation (as a percentage of bone width)
- known by a couple of other names:
-
angulation
- a line drawn down the center of the bone is angled at the fracture
- describe
- direction of angulation of the distal fracture component
- the amount of angulation in degrees (estimate)
-
rotation
- a difficult thing to assess on plain radiographs
- usually evident clinically and common in spiral fractures
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