M. Schutz et al., PINLESS EXTERNAL FIXATION - INDICATIONS AND PRELIMINARY-RESULTS IN TIBIAL SHAFT FRACTURES, Clinical orthopaedics and related research, (347), 1998, pp. 35-42
A major drawback of conventional fixator systems is the penetration of
the fixator pins into the medullary canal, The pins create a direct l
ink between the medullary cavity and the outer environment, The new AO
pinless fixator bypasses this disadvantage by clamping its trocar poi
nts onto the outer cortex without penetrating it, Thus, exposure and c
onsequent contamination of the medullary cavity does not occur, The cl
inical use of this easily manageable fixator with no drilling requirem
ent is for tibial fractures in which the general and local conditions
are poor or the infrastructure of the clinic is inadequate for primary
internal stabilization or both, All options for a later conversion to
internal fixation remain open, For highly unstable tibial shaft fract
ures, the pinless fixator can be applied as an additional, minimally i
nvasive, external, locked system to increase the stability of intramed
ullary nail fixation, The pinless external fixator can be combined fav
orably with the standard AO tubular system and is a valuable addition
to the existing fixator systems.