Biomechanical properties of new mini compression screws.
BACKGROUND
The aim of the current study was to compare the compression forces achieved by the new commercial mini compression screws in cortical and cancellous bone.


METHODS
The following screws were tested: AO partially threaded 4-mm cancellous screw, AO 3.5- and 2.7-mm cortical screws (Synthes - USA) , self-tapping cannulated 3-mm VisAntares (EOS - France), 3- and 2.3-mm Omnitech (Biotech - France), 3-mm Barouk (DePuy - France), and 3-mm Bold screws (Newdeal - France). The compression forces of screws in bone were tested using a load cell between pieces of longitudinally-split sheep tibias as a cortical and cancellous bone model.


RESULTS
The AO 3.5-mm, 2.7-mm cortical and 4.0-mm partially threaded cancellous headed screws provided significantly (p < = 0.05) better compression forces than all the tested headless screws, both in cortical and cancellous bone. A loss of compression was noted when the headless screws were totally countersunk.


CONCLUSIONS
The cortical and cancellous screws with heads provided superior compression than headless screws.


CONCLUSIONS
Headed screws may be preferable to headless differential pitch screws in situations where compression is important ie, arthrodeses or fracture fixation. Care should be taken not to countersink the headless screws during insertion into cortical bone.
Nguyen
Chinh
C
Singh
Dishan
D
Harrison
Mark
M
Blunn
Gordon
G
Herman
Amir
A
Dudkiewicz
Israel
I
D001174:Arthrodesis / Q000295:instrumentation; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001863:Bone Screws; D004867:Equipment Design; D005592:Fracture Fixation / Q000295:instrumentation; D008422:Materials Testing