PELVIC TRAUMA IN A POPULATION OF FELINE PATIENTS: FRACTURE PATTERNS, LIFESTYLE AND PREVALENCE

Pelvic injuries are highly represented in polytraumatized feline patients, mainly resulting from road traffic accidents (RTA), high-rise syndrome, and trauma inflicted by humans or other animals. This study aims to determine differences in injury prevalence based on lifestyle (indoor, outdoor, mixed), type of injury (RTA, high-rise syndrome, unknown), and total number of bone injuries, as well as to assess associations between observed pelvic bone lesions. A retrospective examination of orthogonal pelvic radiographs from 80 polytraumatized cats (50 strays and 30 owned) was performed. Bone injuries, lifestyle, and type of trauma were recorded. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS. Associations between bone injuries and lifestyle, type of trauma, and number of fractures were investigated using the Chi-square test (with significance set at p-value < 0.05), and correlations between fracture types were evaluated using Spearman correlation coefficients. Results showed significant correlations between certain injuries: unilateral sacroiliac luxation was associated with contralateral ilium fracture, and ischium fracture was correlated with ipsilateral pubic fracture. Additionally, sacroiliac luxation, pubic fracture, and ischiopubic symphysis fracture were never observed as isolated injuries. The patient's lifestyle and type of trauma did not show a statistically significant correlation with the number of injuries. Finally, the type of trauma was not associated with the type of injuries found. These findings are particularly useful for interpreting pelvic radiographs in polytraumatized cats, emphasizing the need to search for multiple injuries when sacroiliac luxation, pubic fracture or ischiopubic symphysis fracture are detected.