Traumatic lesions of the acetabular triradiate cartilage (presentation of four cases and considerations on treatment).

Four cases of fracture of the triradiate cartilage (TC) are reported, all of which may be classified as epiphyseal detachments. Two of the patients were submitted to osteosynthesis of the posterior column: results were very satisfactory in one of the cases for which long-term follow-up was obtained. The other two cases, treated non-surgically, developed meta-traumatic actabular dysplasia probably due to association with crushing phenomena (Salter-Harris V) in the germinative area of TC. Despite the favorable results obtained in the case that was submitted to surgery, the authors believe that conservative treatment is best in this type of lesion, and that surgical reduction should be performed only in cases of instability and severe displacement, once surgical reduction has failed.