SPRING PLATES IN DISTAL RADIO FRACTURES: “IN VITRO” MECHANICAL PROPERTIES

BACKGROUND: Distal radius fractures are one of the most common orthopedic injuries and appear in various patterns. Volar plate fixation is not always considered the gold standard treatment. OBJECTIVE: To measure the resistance of a fragment-specific fixation assembly model obtained by plate fixation associated with different K-wire sizes. METHOD: In this original experimental study, novel II, axial compression of bone materials was tested. RESULTS: In both groups, the maximum force supported by the fixation method in our study was ten times greater than the physiological load to which the wrist was subjected under physiological conditions. DISCUSSION: In this study, we obtained encouraging results when compared to results reported in the literature. Our study showed that our bone fixating system was mechanically adequate for articular fractures of the intermediate column of the radius (Melone classification). The results were similar or superior to the results of pressure resistance and stiffness when data from the literature was used as reference. CONCLUSION: The proposed fixation method demonstrated adequate resistance for fixation of the intermediate column of the distal radius. Increasing K wire size caused augmented resistance of the fixation. Level of Evidence II, Prospective comparative study.