PINLESS EXTERNAL FIXATION - INDICATIONS AND PRELIMINARY-RESULTS IN TIBIAL SHAFT FRACTURES

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.