Titanium clamps for refixation of bone fragments in the repair of depressed skull fractures: Technical note

The rigid fixation of bone fragments in the repair of depressed skull fract ures can be a problem, especially if not all fragments are replaceable. Usu ally, in these cases minior microplates are used. The Craniofix(R) titanium clamp (Aesculap, Germany) was developed for the fixation of bone flaps aft er osteoplastic craniotomy. It consists of a screw holding together two 10- mm diameter metallic disks with concaved teeth pressing bone flap and crani um between the two disks. We used this system for the operative treatment o f two patients with depressed skull fracture. A rigid fixation of the bone fragments was achieved in both cases. The postoperative three-dimensional C T scan showed a good fragment alignment. From the report of two cases we sh ow that this system is a useful tool in the fixation of bone fragments in t he repair of depressed skull fractures.