The effect of spatial distances between holes and time delays between bone drillings based on examination of heat accumulation and risk of bone thermal necrosis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate heat accumulation and bone thermal necrosis for various distances between holes and time delays between drillings. METHODS: The tests were performed at three distances (6, 12, 16 mm) and three time delays: 0, 5 and 10 s. To examine the efficiency of coolants, CO(2) coolant was also tested in addition to two common cooling modes in bone drilling. RESULTS: The main results were the trend of temperature–time graph, maximum temperature at drilling site, temperature distribution on the surface of drilling site, temperature durability and returning time. The effect of lateral drillings on the initial hole was notable in drilling at a distance of 6 mm without cooling. This effect did not disappear even by increasing the time delay up to 10 s. The results obtained for drilling with normal saline coolant were not sufficiently acceptable due to the manual and non-uniform cooling process as well as the relative obstruction of the chips exit path. Generally, drillings with two common cooling modes, even when the distances between holes and time delays between drillings were controlled, did not yield all favorable conditions for preventing bone thermal necrosis. CONCLUSION: Bone drilling using CO(2) coolant eliminates the risk of bone thermal necrosis completely even in cases that the distances between holes in plates or implants are 6 mm and there is no time delay between drillings. These results can be especially useful in emergency orthopedic surgeries and for designing the location of screw holes in implants and plates.