Steel plate treatment for comminuted fractures of the extremities

  With the increase of high-energy injuries, there are more and more comminuted fractures. Traditional surgery emphasizes too much on anatomical repositioning and strong internal fixation and excessive stripping of the periosteum, which destroys the blood supply at the fracture end, resulting in delayed healing or non-healing of the fracture and serious complications such as internal fixation failure, fracture and infection, which seriously affect the fracture healing and functional recovery of patients. In recent years, with the change of the concept of internal fixation from “AO” to “BO (biological fixation)”, minimally invasive plate internal fixation (MIPO) technology has been developed.  On this basis, CH. Krettek et al. proposed the concept of minimally invasive surgical technique and bridging plate osteosynthesis in 1997, namely MIPPO (minimally invasive percutaneous plate osteosynthesis), which refers to minimally invasive percutaneously inserted plate osteosynthesis. The plate is then inserted percutaneously to restore the force line and alignment of the fracture, and then fixed with percutaneous screws. This technique eliminates the need to incise the fracture end, thus maximizing the blood supply to the fracture, promoting healing, and reducing the risk of infection and re-fracture.  It greatly reduces patient pain, improves the chances of fracture healing, and reduces the occurrence of complications. However, for severe comminuted fractures and elderly patients with osteoporosis, traditional anatomic plates are prone to complications such as nail extraction, and in recent years, with the popular application of LCP plates (i.e., locked compression plates), the occurrence of such complications has been greatly reduced. (1) LCP plate has limited contact with the periosteum, the pressure on the periosteum is much less than that of traditional plate, and the damage to bone blood flow is smaller.  (2) Because of the unique locking mechanism, the screw is “welded” to the plate, and the fixation is secure, both cancellous bone at the epiphysis and osteoporotic patients can obtain secure fixation.