Interface contact profiles of a novel locking plate and its effect on fracture healing in goat.
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the interface characteristics of the new-designed locking plate (LP) and limited contact-dynamic compression plate (LC-DCP) and compare the fracture healing between LP and LC-DCP in a goat tibia fracture model.


METHODS
Eight-hole LP and LC-DCP were applied to fix fresh goat tibiae in a reproducible manner. The average pressure, force and interface contact area were calculated using Fuji prescale pressure sensitive film interposed among the plate and the bone and image analysis system. Eight-hole LP and LC-DCP were applied to each tibia in a goat tibia fracture model. The fracture healing was evaluated by X-ray photography at postoperative 8 weeks. The goats were sacrificed at postoperative 12 weeks. Three-point bending test was conducted in the tibiae.


RESULTS
The interface contact of LP system was smaller than that of LC-DCP (P < 0.05), while interface contact force of LP system was higher than that of LC-DCP (P < 0.05). Radiographs revealed that the fracture line disappeared in the LP group, while the fracture line was visible in DCP group at postoperative 8 weeks. At postoperative 12 weeks, the bending strength and bending load of fractured tibia were higher in LP group than in DCP group, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The new-designed locking plate can significantly decrease the contact area on the bone interface, which further provides better fracture healing than conventional plates.
Wei
Da-cheng
DC
Longchang Hospital, Luzhou Medical College, Longchang County 642150, Sichuan Province, China.
Zhao
Yu-feng
YF
Xing
Shu-xing
SX
Wang
Ai-min
AM
D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D001860:Bone Plates; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal; D017102:Fracture Healing; D006041:Goats; D016268:Internal Fixators; D013977:Tibia / Q000503:physiopathology; D013978:Tibial Fractures / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*