Addressing selection bias in diagnostic accuracy studies

Intraoperative Fluoroscopy Reduces Complication and Reoperation Rate in Facial Fractures

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to evaluate surgical outcomes of facial fractures after the introduction of intraoperative radiology. Methods: An historic cohort of patients without intraoperative fluoroscopy (IOF) was compared with a prospective cohort of patients with IOF. Main outcomes were postoperative complications and reoperation rate. Results: There were 51 in the non-IOF group and 49 in the IOF group. In the group with IOF 10 patients required intraoperative revisions (20.46%). Overall postoperative complication rate was higher in the non-IOF group (25.49% vs. 6.12%) due to the significantly higher bone-related complication rate (15.69% vs. 2.04%). Reoperation rate was also higher in the non-IOF group (11.76% vs. 0%). Conclusion: This study demonstrates that IOF reduces bone-related complication and reoperation rate by allowing correction of surgical errors immediately during surgery.