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Should we really compress the fracture line in the treatment of Salter–Harris type 4 distal femoral fractures? A biomechanical study

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Abstract

In this study, the indirect effect on physeal plate during interfragmentary compression of a Salter–Harris (SH) type 4 distal femoral fracture has been investigated. Three Dimensional (3D) model of a single configuration has been performed via SolidWorks. ANSYS Workbench software was used for numerical analyses. All boundary conditions have been defined in finite element analysis software. Since it is premature to state that compression created an additional stress load on the physeal plate in vivo, according to our results, it has been found that lateromedial compression in SH type 4 fracture of the distal femur caused an additional stress load on the physeal plate ex vivo. It is believed that screws need to be fixed without compression to avoid an additional iatrogenic physeal injury.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Kutahya Health Sciences University, Campus of Evliya Celebi, 43100, Kutahya, Turkey

    Sermet Inal & Alaaddin Oktar Uzumcugil

  2. Department of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, Hasan Ferdi Turgutlu Technology Faculty, Manisa Celal Bayar University, 45400, Manisa, Turkey

    Kadir Gok

  3. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technology Faculty, Amasya University, 05000, Amasya, Turkey

    Arif Gok

  4. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Kutahya Education and Research Hospital, 43100, Kutahya, Turkey

    Sabit Numan Kuyubasi

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  1. Sermet Inal
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  2. Kadir Gok
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Correspondence to Kadir Gok.

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There is no conflict of interest any financial funding or materials in the manuscript.

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Not required for used sawbones samples in this study.

Additional information

Technical Editor: Estevam Barbosa Las Casas, Ph.D.

Arif Gok: Senior Author.

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Inal, S., Gok, K., Gok, A. et al. Should we really compress the fracture line in the treatment of Salter–Harris type 4 distal femoral fractures? A biomechanical study. J Braz. Soc. Mech. Sci. Eng. 40, 528 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-018-1448-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40430-018-1448-2

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