THE BIOMECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF HOLLOW AN D SOLID NAILS FOR INTERLOCKED INTRAMEDULLARY NAILING - EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES IN THE DOG

Since locked intramedullary nailing of the tibia in dogs was followed by material failure of the conventional slotted hollow nails within da ys, special solid nails were developed and tested with respect to thei r mechanical properties. There was a clear advantage of the solid nail s over the hollow nails in terms of bending resistance and yield force . In animal experiments - even in longterm experiments over nine month s - no case of material failure occurred with the solid nails. The hig h torsional and bending resistance of the solid nails suggests the use of a mechanical device which, as our experience shows, permits reliab le interlocking without the need for an image intensifier, that is to say, without radiation exposure.