The healing stages of an intramedullary implanted tibia: A stress strain comparative analysis of the calcification process

摘要

AimsThe extended usage of unreamed tibial nailing resulted in reports of an increased rate of complications, especially for the distal portion of the tibia. Unreamed nailing favours biology at the expense of the achievable mechanical stability, it is therefore of interest to define the limits of the clinical indications for this method. Extra-articular fractures of the distal tibial metaphysis, meta-diaphyseal junction, and adjacent diaphysis are distinct in their management from impaction derived ‘‘pilon’’ type fractures and mid-diaphyseal fractures. The goals of this work were to gain a thorough understanding of the load-sharing mechanism between unreamed nail and bones in a fractured tibia. With this purpose a complete model of the human leg was realised, simulating a mid-diaphyseal fracture, classified as A2 type 1, according to the AO classification.The analysis of the entire chain allows to have a complete picture of the stress distribution and of the most stressed bones and soft tissues, but, more importantly can overcome problems connected with boundary conditions imposed at single bony components.