[Translated article] Comparative clinical and biomechanical study of different types of osteosynthesis in the treatment of distal femur fractures.

Introduction And Objectives: Distal femoral fractures represent a problem due to their high number of complications. The aim was to compare the results, complications and stability achieved with retrograde intramedullary nailing and the angular stable plate in the treatment of distal femoral diaphyseal fractures.

Material And Method: A clinical and experimental biomechanical study was carried out using finite elements.

Comparative clinical and biomechanical study of different types of osteosynthesis in the treatment of distal femur fractures.

Introduction And Objectives: Distal femoral fractures represent a problem due to their high number of complications. The aim was to compare the results, complications and stability achieved with retrograde intramedullary nailing and the angular stable plate in the treatment of distal femoral diaphyseal fractures.

Material And Method: A clinical and experimental biomechanical study was carried out using finite elements.

Influence of plate size and screw distribution on the biomechanical behaviour of osteosynthesis by means of lateral plates in femoral fractures.

Distal femoral fractures are fractures associated with high rates of morbidity and mortality, affecting to three different groups of individuals: younger people suffering high-energy trauma, elderly people with fragile bones and people with periprosthetic fractures around previous total knee arthroplasty. They have been classically treated with conventional plates and intramedullary nails and more recently with locked plates that have increased their indications to more types of fractures. The main objective of the present work is the biomechanical study, by means of finite element simulation, of the stability achieved in the osteosynthesis of femoral fractures in zones 4 and 5 of Wiss, by using locked plates with different plate lengths and different screw configurations, and analysing the effect of screw proximity to the fracture site.

Biomechanical behavior of retrograde intramedullary nails in distal femoral fractures.

Fractures of the distal femur affect three different groups of individuals: younger people suffering high-energy trauma, elderly people with fragile bones and people with periprosthetic fractures around previous total knee arthroplasty. Main indications of intramedullary nailing are for supracondylar fractures type A or type C of the AO classification. The main objective of the present work is to analyze, by means of FE simulation, the influence of retrograde nail length, considering different blocking configurations and fracture gaps, on the biomechanical behavior of supracondylar fractures of A type.

[Changes in CIRUGIA ESPANOLA Letters to the Editor between 2000 and 2007].

Objectives: To describe the frequency and bibliographic characteristics of letters to the editor in the journal, Cirugía Española published between 2000 and 2007 and to compare the differences in the periods between 2000-2003 and 2004-2007.

Materials And Method: A descriptive and cross-sectional study, using the letters to the editor published in Spanish surgery between 2000 and 2007, as observation units. The variables considered were: the number of letters according to the volume and year of publication, substantive content of the paper, text length, graphics resources use, number of signatories and their professional profile, institutions of the authors, by origin and number of Autonomous Communities and number of bibliographical references.