This novel loose-leaf volume is an operating room guide for external fixation. The removable, laminated pages are designed to be a "practical aid to the surgeon." In addition to physicians who are involved in applying external fixation devices to the long bones and the pelvis, radiologists and anesthesiologists may find this volume useful.
The drawings are schematic, with too little detail for use in classic gross anatomy courses, but may be useful in less comprehensive curricula. The depictions of pelvic anatomy are particularly simple—even the bony detail is minimal.
These simplified drawings will be valuable in the operating room, particularly when one is faced with severely comminuted fractures or severe softtissue trauma that requires an unfamiliar approach for external fixation. Surgeons who are beginning to use the Ilizarov technique of multiple transfixing wires will find comfort in the suggested possibilities for safest locations for wire placement. The illustrations include