Small bowel lengthening by mechanical distraction.

To evaluate whether the small bowel can be distracted by mechanical stress in analogy to limb lengthening by osteodistraction, a gut-lengthening apparatus was designed. This distractor was placed at the antimesenterical side of a defined jejunum segment in rabbits. Distraction was performed by 1 mm lengthening of the distractor once daily using extracorporal screws.

[Technical measuring procedures for 3-dimensional movement analysis of experimentally-induced fractures of the thoracolumbar spine and initial results].

Biomechanics and motion following fractures of the thoracolumbar spine have not yet been clarified. The motion acts in 6 degrees of freedom: three rotations and three translations parallel to the system of coordinates. The problem is to measure each rotation and each translation individually.

[Sonographic imaging of meniscus lesions. An experimental study].

There is still no general agreement on the value of ultrasonographic visualization of pathologic changes in the knee menisci. Some examiners report on large patient collectives in which it has yielded accurate diagnoses in 90% of cases. Other authors describe much higher failure rates and unreliable imaging of meniscal lesions.