TITANIUM IMPLANTS IN TRAUMA SURGERY - WHE N ARE THEY NECESSARY

The decision on whether to use stainless steel or commercial pure tita nium as an implant material in open reduction and internal fixation (O RIF) should depend on biomechanical behavior, biocompatibility, resist ance to infection, handling characteristics and costs. Based on the re sults of a prospective randomized clinical study including 281 DC-plat es and data available in the literature we will present recommendable guidelines for the choice of the appropriate implant material for indi vidual cases of bone surgery.