1990 Year Book of Vascular Surgery. 1988 Jul. 28.
Hemorrhage remains the leading cause of death in patients with pelvic fracture.
A simple classification was developed based on a modification of the Pennel and Sutherland classification, which originally classified the fracture based on force vectors of AP compression, lateral compression, and vertical shear. The modified classification defined the instability of the fracture as displacement or a gap of at least 0.5 cm at any fracture site in the pelvic ring.