This book was written to help orthopaedic and trauma surgeons understand andtreat acetabular fractures, laying out a method of reading both plain radiographs and CT scans. Starting from a perfect anatomical understanding of each fracture, readers are then shown in detail how to choose the most appropriate treatment and, in particular, the best approach foreach. The possible complications of surgery, especially ectopic bone formation, and the way to prevent and deal with them are fully covered. A detailed account is given of the long-term results (3-30 years post-injury) in 569 cases operated on within 21 days of injury, 157 operated on at between 3 weeks and 4 months, and 91 cases in which operative reconstruction was delayed still longer. A self-trainingchapter on the interpretation of radiographs completes the book. This second edition of "Fractures of the Acetabulum" has been greatly expanded from the first, with comprehensive coverage of two- and three-dimensional CTscanning, many new details on surgical approaches and techniques, and a full analysis of the results of surgical treatment of 869 operated casesfrom among the 940 cases (updated from 469 in the first edition) included inthe book: the largest series ever published of acetabular fractures operatedupon by the same surgeon. Dr. Letournel considers that a trauma surgeon facing an acetabular fracture has to be able to answer one question: Does this fracture need surgical treatment or not? To answer that question the surgeon has to: 1. Gain a complete understanding of the anatomical type of the fracture 2. Accurately assess the displacement involved 3. Take into account the associated lesions and the age of the fracture