http://hdl.handle.net/1765/8552

Prevention of fracture at the distal locking site of the gamma nail. A biomechanical study


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To investigate the origin of fractures at the distal locking site of the Gamma nail, we loaded ten paired human cadaver femora fixed with a Gamma nail in torsion until they fractured. When an awl was hammered in to start the hole for distal locking a fissure appeared in the lateral cortex of all the femora, and the mean torsional load to create a fracture was reduced by 57.8% compared with that in a control group in which the distal locking hole had been started with a centre drill. When an additional drill hole was made, the mean failure load in torsion decreased by 35.7%. We strongly recommend that an awl should not be used at the distal locking site of the Gamma nail; we recommend the use of a centre drill. Additional drill holes should be avoided because they act as stress raisers.



Keywords


Automatically Extracted Terms
  • fracture
  • gamma
  • gamma nail
  • group
  • femur
  • drill
  • torsion
  • j bone
  • screw
  • failure
  • university
  • femora
  • control
  • centre drill
  • centre
  • al 1991
  • surgery
  • study
  • orthopaedic
  • netherland


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