[Observations on bone injuries in aviation. Indications for treatment of more complicated fractures with external fixators. Clinical examples].
Air force injuries and statistics from airport first-aid stations confer on aviation traumatic pathology a position of some significance, though in general terms the percentages involved are much the same as those associated with an ordinary occupation and revealed by an ordinary epidemiological investigation. Attention to special areas, however, such as parachuting, makes it clear that injuries, particularly bone fractures, exact a considerable toll. Aircraft accidents form the major field. Reference is made to subjects with multiple injuries and the indications for external fixators. These offer certain advantages (minimal applicative injury, facilitation of dynamic osteosynthesis), and disadvantages (problems of anchorage to the bone, and biomechanical and technical problems). The so-called "omnidirectional" fixator enables these disadvantages to its credit: employment of conventional and special grasping elements, easy and precise application, with the possibility of carrying out unidirectional adjustments and electronic checking of the forces applied.