title: The use of power tools in the insertion of cortical bone screws.
abstract: Cortical bone screws are commonly used in fracture surgery, most patterns are non-self-tapping and require a thread to be pre-cut. This is traditionally performed using hand tools rather than their powered counterparts. Reasons given usually imply that power tools are more dangerous and cut a less precise thread, but there is no evidence to support this supposition. A series of experiments has been performed which show that the thread pattern cut with either method is identical and that over-penetration with the powered tap is easy to control. The conclusion reached is that both methods produce consistently reliable results but use of power tools is much faster.
authors.affiliation: St George's Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Elliott
mesh_terms: D001863:Bone Screws; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000601:surgery; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D009983:Orthopedic Equipment; D013977:Tibia / Q000601:surgery