Estimation of the movement of the inter-fragmentary gap of a fractured human femur in the presence of a composite bone plate

Abstract

Composite bone plates made of carbon/epoxy prepregs were investigated for obtaining a more uniform strain distribution at the fracture site of human bones through finite element (FE) analysis. The fracture site was modeled by a multilayered structure. One conventional stainless steel bone plate and several composite bone plates were considered for calculating the strain distributions at the fracture site. The average stresses of bones and bone plates were also calculated for the evaluation of the stress-shielding effect. From the results of FE analysis, it was found that the composite bone plate caused an affirmative strain distribution at the fracture site, which stimulated callus generation.

Keywords

fabric composites strain distribution callus bone plate

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Spivak JM , Zuckerman JD , Kummer FJ and Frankel VH Fatigue failure of the sliding screw in hip fracture fixation: a report of three cases. J Orthop Trauma 1991; 5(3): 325-331.

Perren SM Evolution of the internal fixation of long bone fractures. J Bone Joint Surg 2002; 84-B(8): 1093-1110.

Gautier E. and Ganz R. The biological plate osteosynthesis. Zentralbl Chir 1994; 119(8): 564-572.

McKibbin B. Carbon plates. In: Uhthoff HK and Stahl E (eds) Current concepts of internal fixation of fractures. Berlin: Springer Verlag, 1980, pp.146-148.

Tayton K. , Johnson C. , McKibbin B. , Bradley J. and Hastings G. The use of semi-rigid carbon-fibre-reinforced plastic plates for fixation of human fractures. J Bone Joint Surg 1982 ; 64-B(1): 105-111.

Tayton K. and Brandley J.

How stiff should semi-rigid fixation of the human tibia be?

J Bone Joint Surg 1983; 65-B(3): 312-315.

Howard CB , Tayton KJJ and Gibbs A. The response of human tissues to carbon reinforced epoxy resin. J Bone Joint Surg 1985; 67-B(4): 656-658.

Ali MS , French TA , Hastings GW , Rae T. , Rushton N. , Ross ERS and Wynn-Jones CH Carbon fibre composite bone plates. J Bone Joint Surg 1990; 72-B(4): 586-591.

Gupte SK and Advani SG Process modelling for manufacture of orthopedic implants from short fiber composites. Polym Compos 1994; 15(1): 7-17.

10.

Reinhardt A. , Advani SG , Santare MH and Miller F. Preliminary study on composite hip prostheses made by resin transfer molding. J Compos Mater 1999; 33: 852-870.

11.

Wan YZ , Wang YL , He F. , Huang Y. and Jiang HJ Mechanical performance of hybrid bismaleimide composites reinforced with three-dimensional braided carbon and Kevlar fabrics. Composites Part A 2007; 38(2): 495-504.

12.

Huang Z. and Fujihara K. Stiffness and strength design of composite bone plates. Compos Sci Technol 2005; 65(1): 73-85.

13.

Fujihara K. , Yoshida E. , Nakai A. , Ramakrishna S. and Hamada H. Influence of micro-structures on bending properties of braided laminated composites. Compos Sci Technol 2007; 67(10): 2191-2198.

14.

Schambron T. , Lowe A. and McGregor HV Effects of environmental ageing on the static and cyclic bending properties of braided carbon fibre/PEEK bone plates. Composites Part B 2008; 39: 1216-1220.

15.

Benli S. , Aksoy S. , Havitcioglu H. and Kucuk M. Evaluation of bone plate with low-stiffness material in terms of stress distribution . J Biomech 2008; 41: 3229-3235.

16.

Mow VC and Huiskes R. Biomechanics of fracture fixation and fracture healing-basic orthopaedic biomechanics and mechanobiology, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2005.

17.

Wirtz DC and Schiffers N. Critical evaluation of known bone material properties to realize anisotropic FE-simulation of the proximal femur. J Biomech 2000; 33: 1325-1330.