Three-dimensional (3-D) printing offers many potential advantages in designing and manufacturing plating systems for foot and ankle procedures that involve small, geometrically complex bony anatomy. Here, we describe the design and clinical use of a Ti-6Al-4V ELI bone plate (FastForward™ Bone Tether Plate, MedShape, Inc., Atlanta, GA) manufactured through 3-D printing processes. The plate prote...

We used dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) to measure the bone mineral content (BMC) of both tibiae in 13 patients who had been treated for a tibial fracture by rigid plate fixation. Within two weeks of plate removal the BMC was significantly greater in the bone that had been under the plate than at the same site in the control tibia. An unplated area of bone near the ankle showed a signif...

Fracture stabilisation techniques continue to evolve and to provide approaches which minimise the iatrogenic trauma associated with surgery. Minimally invasive plate osteosynthesis (MIPO) is a recently described method of biological internal fixation performed by introducing a bone plate via small insertional incisions that are made remote to the fracture site. The plate is slid adjacent to the...

Introduction Ankle fractures involving the distal fibula belong to the most common fractures. Operative treatment is indicated in unstable ankle fractures by open reduction and internal fixation with plate and screws. Especially in the elderly, the osteoporotic bone provides reduced stabilization of this fixation. Therefore, an implant providing improved mechanical stabilization could allow a m...

During endochondral ossification, growth plate cartilage is replaced with bone. Mineralized cartilage matrix is resorbed by osteoclasts, and new bone tissue is formed by osteoblasts. As mineralized cartilage does not contain any cells, it is unclear how this process is regulated. We hypothesize that, in analogy with bone remodeling, osteoclast and osteoblast activity are regulated by osteocytes...

Injury to growth plate cartilage in children can lead to bone bridge formation and result in bone growth deformities, a significant clinical problem currently lacking biological treatment. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) offer a promising therapeutic option for regeneration of damaged cartilage, due to their self renewing and multi-lineage differentiation attributes. Although some small an...

Th e introduction some 10 years ago of the combination of biological bridge plating with indirect reduction techniques was considered by some to be an important and welcome evolution, but by others (2,5,6) as a revolution against rigid AO principles. It had become evident that in the cortex directly underneath a plate, and to a lesser extent in the vicinity of an intramedullary nail, considerab...

BACKGROUND The invention of the locking plate technology leads to alterations of treatment strategies at metaphyseal fracture sites with the concept of spontaneous remodeling of trabecular bone voids. Whereas trabecular regeneration has been proven in experimental animal studies, no histologic data exist on human fracture healing with special emphasis on bone voids. METHODS In order to qualif...

Longitudinal bone growth is the results of chondrocyte proliferation and hypertrophy and subsequent endochondral ossification in the growth plate. Recently, laser acupuncture (LA), an intervention to stimulate acupoint with low-level laser irradiation, has been suggested as an intervention to improve the longitudinal bone growth. This study investigated the effects of laser acupuncture on growt...

Bone growth and development are products of the complex interactions of genetic and environmental factors. Longitudinal bone growth depends on the growth plate. The growth plate has 5 different zones-each with a different functional role-and is the final target organ for longitudinal growth. Bone length is affected by several systemic, local, and mechanical factors. All these regulation systems...