Biomechanical comparison of pin and nitinol bone staple fixation to pin and tension band wire fixation for the stabilization of canine olecranon osteotomies

Alen Lai; Chris Christou; Craig Bailey; Chris J. Tan; John Culvenor; Tian Wang; William R. Walsh

doi:10.3415/VCOT-17-02-0025

Veterinary and Comparative Orthopaedics and Traumatology, Table of Contents

Vet Comp Orthop Traumatol 2017; 30(05): 324-330
DOI: 10.3415/VCOT-17-02-0025

Original Research

Schattauer GmbH

Biomechanical comparison of pin and nitinol bone staple fixation to pin and tension band wire fixation for the stabilization of canine olecranon osteotomies

Authors

Alen Lai

¹North Shore Veterinary Specialist Centre, Department of Small Animal Surgery, Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia
Chris Christou

²The University of New South Wales, Surgical and Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
Craig Bailey

¹North Shore Veterinary Specialist Centre, Department of Small Animal Surgery, Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia
Chris J. Tan

³University of Sydney, Sydney School of Veterinary Science, Camperdown, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
John Culvenor

¹North Shore Veterinary Specialist Centre, Department of Small Animal Surgery, Crows Nest, New South Wales, Australia
Tian Wang

²The University of New South Wales, Surgical and Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia
William R. Walsh

²The University of New South Wales, Surgical and Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Prince of Wales Hospital, Randwick, New South Wales, Australia

Abstract

Summary

Objective: To compare the initial biomechanical properties of olecranon osteotomies stabilized with intramedullary pins and a Nitinol bone staple to osteotomies stabilized with pin and tension band wire fixation.

Study design: Ex vivo mechanical evaluation on cadaveric bones.

Material and methods: Ten pairs of cadaveric forelimbs from skeletally mature Greyhounds with an olecranon osteotomy stabilized with either a pin and Nitinol bone staple or a pin and tension band wire. A single load to failure was applied to each specimen through the triceps tendon. Biomechanical properties were compared based on stiffness, yield load, and maximum load to failure and load at 2 mm of axial displacement.

Results: Specimens stabilized with the bone staple were biomechanically superior in all the variables tested. There was significantly greater stiffness (118.0 ± 25.9 N/mm versus 70.1 ± 40.4 N/mm; p = 0.005), yield load (319.0 ± 99.8 N versus 238.0 ± 42.5 N; p = 0.03), maximum load sustained (385.0 ± 99.2 N versus 287.0 ± 37.4 N; p = 0.009), and load at 2 mm of axial displacement (218.0 ± 51.5 N versus 138.0 ± 48.7 N; p = 0.002) in specimens stabilized with pins and a Nitinol bone staple than specimens stabilized with pin and tension band wire fixation.

Clinical significance: The pin and Nitinol bone staple construct provides a biomechanically superior alternative to pin and tension band wire fixation for stabilization of olecranon osteotomies, and its use warrants further clinical investigation.

Supplementary material for this article is available at https://doi.org/10.3415/VCOT-17-02-0025

Keywords

Olecranon osteotomy - pin and tension band wire - nitinol - bone staple - biomechanical

Full Text

References

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Supplementary Material

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