Comprehension and reproducibility of the Judet and Letournel classification

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of the method of radiographic interpretation of acetabular fractures, according to the classification of Judet and Letournel, used by a group of residents of Orthopedics at a university hospital. METHODS: We selected ten orthopedic residents, who were divided into two groups; one group received training in a methodology for the classification of acetabular fractures, which involves transposing the radiographic images to a graphic two-dimensional representation. We classified fifty cases of acetabular fracture on two separate occasions, and determined the intraobserver and interobserver agreement. RESULT: The success rate was 16.2% (10-26%) for the trained group and 22.8% (10-36%) for the untrained group. The mean kappa coefficients for interobserver and intraobserver agreement in the trained group were 0.08 and 0.12, respectively, and for the untrained group, 0.14 and 0.29. CONCLUSION: Training in the method of radiographic interpretation of acetabular fractures was not effective for assisting in the classification of acetabular fractures. Level of evidence I, Testing of previously developed diagnostic criteria on consecutive patients (with universally applied reference "gold" standard).