20:23 May 31, 2011 

Hi Barend,
Thank you very much for the clarification and your great help for all my questions.

18:09 May 31, 2011 

This is why I say I opted for "pillion" rather than 'pilon' (I was aware of the issue at the time of posting my answer; let it also be clear I was primarily thinking of an intra-articular fracture of the distal tibia and that my references concern this very type of fracture) because of my dictionary and of what seemed to be reliable sites.
(no spelling mistake)

Now that things have developed this way, I have dived into the etymology and found:

We have no objection to using the term plafond fracture to refer to these injuries. It is accurate and unambiguous. However the term pilon is equally accurate and unambiguous, and does not fall into the category of eponymous terminology. (read the full article)

http://www.datatrace.com/e-chemtracts/emailurl.html?http://w...

Derived from the French word Pilon for pestle, an instrument used for crushing / pounding

http://radiopaedia.org/articles/pilon-fracture

I conclude my dictionary and websites, and myself, put me on the wrong track and it should be 'pilon fracture' or 'plafond fracture'

'pillion' is no longer tenable for tibia

16:31 May 30, 2011 

I would like to add

Nadia, choose 'pilon fracture' as an answer
Because clearly it is used for a fracture of the distal tibia

At this point in time, I believe, both are possible linguistically

16:24 May 30, 2011 

I am not trying to justify anything (you could have noticed this)
I only try to find out what is correct or what is possible

I mean it would mean that the references of my answer (that refer to exactly the same fracture as the Dutch 'pilonfractuur' as well) and my dictionary would be wrong

I am just interested in the linguistic side of the question

16:15 May 30, 2011 

Hi Barend,
The doctor will be Bulgarian. I am translating a Dutch document into Bulgarian. The Dutch-Bulgarian medical dictionary is very limited, so I need to use the English-Bulgarian. I believe that in this case the right answer will be pilon fracture, because I saw later in the text that the distal tibia of the patient was fractured. Your help for all my questions has been invaluable and you will get for sure points for your other anwers concerning the burstfractuur, etc.

16:07 May 30, 2011 

If you google "pilon fracture" and read the description that you find for it and compare it to the description in Dutch of "pilonfractuur", you will find that they are one and the same. There's not much need to keep going around in circles on this in order to justify the translation of "pillion fracture". It only unnecessarily complicates matters.
I'm sure Nadia will be able to establish that this is the case.

16:03 May 30, 2011 

Many thanks.

I am a bit confused.
That is, I am sure a particular type of fracture of the distal femur is called a 'pillion fracture' but I am not completely sure whether you can use the same term for the distal tibia.

curiously the word pilon is very similar to pillion and I could not find the word 'pilon' in my dicitionaries E-D D-E

is this doctor Dutch or English?
he may be a doctor but is he a linguist?

15:54 May 30, 2011 

Hi Barend and mhdubes,
Thank you so much for your great help! I will know the right answer on Thursday. My translation will be checked by an Orthopedic doctor.

15:41 May 30, 2011 

still not completely sure whether 'pillion fracture' for the distal tibia is incorrect (they might call it that way because it is similar to a 'pillion fracture' of the distal femur)

did you have a look at the references of my answer?


pubmed and a book called "Skeletal trauma: basic science, management, and reconstruction" use 'pillion fracture' for an intra-articular fracture of the tibia

have a look:

[Treatment of pillion fractures of the tibia].

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2882072

http://books.google.nl/books?id=qLBvaM_gWvYC&pg=PA245&lpg=PA...

14:56 May 30, 2011 

it is just little bit different from what you say
read carefully what is said in my reference to the orthopaedic dictionary:

a T-shaped fracture of the lower end of the femur with posterior displacement of the condyle. It typically occurs when a pillion (the British term for the rear seat of a motor cycle) rider's knee is hit in a collision

this means that this type of fracture of the distal femur actually is called a 'pillion fracture'
the term is derived from events in the real world but consequently all these type of fractures have been called, and continue to be called, pillion fractures

this further means that an intra-articular fracture of the distal tibia is more likely to be called a 'pilon fracture' than a 'pillion fracture'

so there is a type of fracture of the distal femur that is called a 'pillion fracture'

and an intra-articular fracture of the distal tibia is most likely called, in contrast with what my dictionary says, a 'pilon fracture'

I have not been able to find 'pilonfractuur' for a distal femur fracture in Dutch so far

the right answer to Nadia's question will therefore probably be 'pilon fracture'

14:11 May 30, 2011 

Barend. Pillion fracture exists but this does not mean that it is an accurate translation of "pilonfractuur".
Pillion fracture relates to a typical fracture obtained whilst riding pillion on a motorbike.
A Pilon fracture affects the tibia. Please see references below:
pillion fracture - Encyclopedia
- [ Traducir esta página ]
pillion fracture a fracture of the lower end of the femur occurring when the knee of a person riding pillion on a motorcycle is struck in a collision; ...
www.encyclo.co.uk/define/pillion fracture - En caché
Pilon Fracture
- [ Traducir esta página ]
A Pilon fracture is a special type of fracture called a pilon fracture refers to a break in the very end of the shin bone (tibia and fibula) just above the ...
arthritis-symptom.com/fracture/pilon-fracture.htm - En caché - Similares

Pilon Fractures - Your Orthopaedic Connection - AAOS
- [ Traducir esta página ]
Pilon fractures affect the bottom of the shinbone (tibia) at the ankle joint. In most cases, both bones in the lower leg, the tibia and fibula, are broken ...
orthoinfo.aaos.org/topic.cfm?topic=A00527 - En caché - Similares

13:59 May 30, 2011 

My 'Groot Medisch Vertaalwoordenboek' offers for 'pilonfractuur or 'pilontibialefractuur': pillion fracture

I once more turned to the internet and found an Orthopaedic dictionary that uses 'pillion fracture' for the distal femur and 'pilon fracture' for the distal tibia

http://books.google.nl/books?id=KZvdy9LPDNgC&pg=PA309&lpg=PA...