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CHAPTER 12
this respect can be made is well illustrated in a case of fracture-dislocation of the upper
lumbar spine with little displacement. Plates were put at the wrong level—i.e. below
the fractured vertebra. When this was discovered after operation, a second operation
was carried out and a second pair of plates were fixed at a higher level and uselessly
fixed with wire to the lower plates opposite the fractured vertebra. After this operation,
the wound broke down and on admission to Stoke Mandeville there was a large gaping
wound exposing the metal plates and wire, which were eventually removed and the
wound then healed, as also did the large pressure sores over the sacrum and hips with
which the patient had been admitted. X-rays and photographs of this case have been
published by Sir Reginald Watson-Jones in the fourth edition (Vol. II, 1004-5) of his
textbook
Fractures and Joint Injuries
(1955).
O
53
FIG. 78.
