Wear and corrosion in retrieved thoracolumbar posterior internal fixation.

Study Design: Posterior thoracolumbar spine implants retrieved as part of routine clinical practice over a 2-year period were analyzed to identify wear and corrosion.

Objective: Engineering analyses of retrieved posterior instrumentation for indications of performance and failure and correlation of this information with clinical factors.

Summary Of Background Data: Recent studies have reported spinal instrumentation particulate wear debris and have noted the importance of design considerations at implant connector interfaces.

Biomechanical factors and injury risk in high-severity rollovers.

The number of rolls, as well as other factors, has been associated with increased injury risk in rollovers. Data from NASS-CDS from 1995-2003 were used to evaluate the biomechanical implications of vehicle kinematics during multiple rolls and to evaluate the risk of injuries to different body regions during rollovers. The data showed that the risk of injury increased with increasing number of rolls.