title: Experimental analysis of the minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis technique applied with non-locking screws and screw locking elements.
abstract: Minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) is an effective surgical technique in the repair of humeral and tibial shaft fractures. There is some controversy as to the minimum number of screws required to ensure correct stability to promote healing, especially when dealing with low quality bones. This work compared different systems assembled on synthetic models simulating a comminuted fracture. Group 1 comprised a locking compression plate with four non-locking screws placed at the holes furthest from the fracture. Group 2 differed from group 1 only in the additional use of two screw locking elements (SLE). Group 3 had four rather than two SLE and, finally, Group 4 used 4 locking screws. The compression and torsion tests with static and cyclic loads showed that, in MIPO, two locking screws or two non-locking screws with SLE could be used per segment without any significant loss in stiffness after 1000 cycles, with system stability guaranteed in both cases. However, lower strength and significant loss of stiffness were observed when non-locking screws were used alone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanical Laboratory, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University, Engineering Departmental Building, Campus de Tafira Baja, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain. Electronic address: myanez@dim.ulpgc.es.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Yánez
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanical Laboratory, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University, Engineering Departmental Building, Campus de Tafira Baja, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cuadrado
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanical Laboratory, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University, Engineering Departmental Building, Campus de Tafira Baja, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: P J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Cabrera
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Biomechanical Laboratory, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University, Engineering Departmental Building, Campus de Tafira Baja, 35017 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Martel
authors.affiliation: Hospital Perpetuo Socorro and Department of Medical and Surgical Science, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria University, Health Science Departmental Building, Campus de San Cristóbal, 35016 Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain.
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Garcés
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001860:Bone Plates; D001863:Bone Screws; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008422:Materials Testing; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D010024:Osteoporosis / Q000601:surgery; D013977:Tibia / Q000601:surgery
keywords: Locking compression plate; Locking screws; MIPO; Non-locking screws; SLE; Screw locking elements