Effects of Pre-tension and Additional Half-pin on Fracture Stability in Hybrid External Fixator System

강선의 인장력과 추가 Half pin이 혼성외고정장치 시스템의 안정성에 미치는 영향

It is clinically well known that pre-tension of wires increases the fracture stability in ring or hybrid external fixation. In some cases, additional half pin should be necessary to increase the stability when soft tissue impalement occurs during fixation. In this paper, the fracture stability of a hybrid external fixator system with different pre-tension effects and additional half-pins was analysed using FEM to investigate the effects of these pre-tension and half pin on the system stability quantitatively. 3-D finite element models of five different fixator frames were developed using by beam elements. In axial compression analysis, the fracture stiffness was increased maximally 62％ as the pre-tension increased. In torsion analysis, in the other hand, there is little variations in the fracture stiffness. Additional half pin increased the system stiffness about 200 ％. From the results, proper pre-tension and additional half pin would provide good methods to increase the fracture stability of the hybrid external fixator and provide more surgical options to minimize soft tissue damage at the fracture site.