Harvesting bone graft from the olecranon: a quantitative and biomechanical comparison of proximal and dorsal cortical windows.

We conducted a study to compare 2 techniques of harvesting ulna bone graft from the olecranon, one using a proximal cortical window (PCW), the other using a dorsal cortical window (DCW), in terms of cancellous bone graft quantity and ulna fracture strength after graft harvest. Cancellous bone was harvested from 8 pairs of embalmed cadaver proximal ulna. Each side of a matched pair was randomly assigned to graft harvest using either a PCW or a DCW approach.

Fatigue performance of composite analogue femur constructs under high activity loading.

Synthetic mechanical analogue bone models are valuable tools for consistent analysis of implant performance in both equilibrium and fatigue biomechanical testing. Use of these models has previously been limited by the poor fatigue performance when tested under realistic service loads. An objective was to determine whether a new analogue bone model (Fourth-Generation) using enhanced analogue cortical bone provides significantly improved resistance to high load fracture and fatigue as compared to the current (Third-Generation) bone models in clinically relevant in situ type testing of total hip implants.

Using flexible nails to improve stabilization of proximal femur fractures in adolescents.

Intramedullary fixation as a treatment for adolescent femur fractures has increased in popularity. We investigated the varus stability of 3 fixation techniques--the standard 2-nail configuration (2 retrograde nails), a 3-nail configuration (standard 2-nail configuration plus 1 antegrade nail), and a retrograde/antegrade 2-nail configuration--in synthetic femurs with 2 simulated fracture patterns (transverse, butterfly). A varus moment was applied to the specimens until 20 degrees of varus angulation was obtained.

Rotational control of various pediatric femur fractures stabilized with titanium elastic intramedullary nails.

This study investigated the torsional stability of transverse, oblique, spiral, butterfly, and comminuted pediatric femur fractures reduced with titanium elastic nails. Twenty-five fractures were created in synthetic analog pediatric femora (five of each fracture type); each fracture was reduced with two 4-mm-diameter titanium elastic nails. Each reduced femur was tested for rotational stability using an MTS.