OBJECTIVE The aim of this study was to assess the incidence and the effectiveness of treatment of fat embolism in patients with hip and long bone fractures (femur and tibia) in Albania. METHODS 229 patients (68% men) with combined hip and long bone fractures (femur and tibia) hospitalized at the Orthopedics-Traumatology Services of the University Center "Mother Teresa" during 2004-2006 were i...

The solution of the now century-old riddle of fat embolism has been much delayed by a misunderstanding which is reflected even in terminology. In patients who die shortly after injury microscopic droplets of fat are found obstructing small vessels, particularly in the lungs but also sometimes in other organs. Lung embolism is found in nearly all patients when injury includes a fracture of a lon...

In rabbits, an experimental model of fat embolism was produced that simulates the course of events in the clinical situation. Small doses of fat-cell suspension (0.075 ml/kg of body weight), prepared by collagenase treatment of homologous adipose tissue, were injected intravenously. Concomitantly, hypovolemia was produced in two animal groups by either withdrawing 20 percent of the estimated bl...

INTRODUCTION Fat embolism syndrome with respiratory failure after intramedullary nailing of a femur fracture is a rare but serious complication in trauma patients. CASE PRESENTATION We present the case of a 20-year-old Caucasian man who experienced paradoxical cerebral fat embolism syndrome with fulminant progression after intramedullary nailing of a femur fracture, in conjunction with a clin...