Fracture Site Motion with Ilizarov and "Hybrid" External Fixation

Abstract

In a completely unstable fracture with poor bone apposition, the mechanical behavior of a four-ring Ilizarov external fixator is superior to the mechanical behavior of a unilateral "hybrid" frame.

Circular external fixation in the management of tibial plateau fractures in patients over the age of 55 years

“…28,29 This led to unwanted motion and the fracture site with resultant loss of reduction, non-union and increased pin-site infection rates. [30][31][32][33][34] Conventional circular external fixation, however, has recently emerged as a viable treatment alternative for bicondylar plateau fractures. 8 These fixators use beam loading through the entire span of the fixator that results in symmetrical loading of the fracture site.…”

A prospective study of hybrid external fixation for proximal tibial fractures

“…Early joint motion is probably the single most important factor in promoting cartilage nutrition. Fixation must be stable enough to allow early motion and to minimize the wound complication [10] . The choice of which hybrid external fixator to use should be made based not only on stiffness but also on ease of clinical application, patient comfort and cost.…”

“…The use of cannulated cancellous screws and olive wires helped in achieving interfragmentary compression and articular congruity. Along with use of 5/8 th ring in proximal tibia helped in achieving stable fixation and early joint motion [7,10] . In present study we obtained the excellent results in 7 patients, Good in 9, Fair in 4, Failure in 1 patient.…”

The stiffness characteristics of hybrid Ilizarov fixators

“…There are some reported studies which compare the biomechanical characteristics of the standard and hybrid models (Khalily et al, 1998;Pugh et al, 1999;Stein et al, 1997;Yang et al, 2003;Yilmaz et al, 2003). To our knowledge, the biomechanics of ring and cantilever fixation are different in principle.…”

“…Khalily et al (1998) developed hybrid configurations to combine the ability of a circular fixator to control a complex fracture with the soft tissue access allowed by a unilateral half-pin frame. Hybrid external fixators that use tensioned wires in the metaphysis and screws in the diaphysis combine the advantages of both unilateral and circular fixators and provide considerable flexibility in frame construction (Khalily et al, 1998;Yang et al, 2003). These hybrid forms of Ilizarov system application affect the mechanical properties at the fracture site (Yilmaz et al, 2003).…”