Panfacial fractures caused by horses - an interdisciplinary task

Introduction Horse-induced facial fractures are often severe and complex. After football, soccer and rugby, they are the fourth most common cause (12.4 %) for sports accidents. The aim of this retrospective work was to present the characteristics of fractures caused by horses and to outline the corresponding therapy with the Results.

Material and Methods From January to October 2018, 9 patients with horse-induced facial injuries and fractures were examined in the study. Those patients that were either kicked by a horse or had fallen off the horse, were treated by the ENT university clinic of Augsburg in cooperation with the department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery.

Results Of the 9 patients, 6 (67 %) were female and 3 (33 %) were male with the age ranging between 8 and 66 years. 3 patients fell off the horse (33 %) and 6 were injured by a hoof kick (67 %). In only 4 cases (44 %) isolated fractures of the orbital floor (2, OF), the nasal bone (1) and the mandible (1) were diagnosed. 5 patients (56 %) suffered combined panfacial fractures of which 4 were fractures of the zygomatic complex, 2 of the mandible, 2 of the maxilla, 2 of the nasal bone, 2 of the septum, 2 of the tooth, 1 of the rhinobasis and 1 Le-Fort-I fracture. OF fractures were splinted using PDS foils. Zygomatic complex fractures, midfacial and jaw fractures were treated interdisciplinarily by using osteosynthesis. The rhinobasis fracture was covered endonasal endoscopically with allogeneic fascia lata.

Conclusion Horse-induced facial fractures are often caused by a kick and can be very complex. Interdisciplinary surgery is often necessary and usually leads to good cosmetic and functional Results.

Poster-PDF A-1738.PDF

Publication History

Article published online:
10 June 2020