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Analysis of sacro-iliac joint screw fixation: does quality of reduction and screw orientation influence joint stability? A biomechanical study

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Abstract

Introduction

Treatment of posterior pelvic ring injuries is frequently associated with pain or/and high mortality rates. Percutaneous sacro-iliac (SI) screw fixation has proved to be one of the methods of choice, providing minimal operative time, blood loss and wound-related morbidity. However, fixation failures due to secondary fracture dislocation or screw backing out have been reported. There is a little knowledge regarding the impact of varying screw orientation and quality of reduction on the fixation strength.

Purpose

The purpose of the present study was biomechanical investigation of joint stability after SI screw fixation and its dependence on quality of reduction and screw orientation.

Methods

Thirty-two artificial hemi-pelvices were assigned to four study groups and simulated SI dislocations were fixed with two SI screws in oblique or transverse screw orientation and anatomical or non-anatomical reduction in group A (oblique/anatomical), B (transverse/anatomical), C (oblique/non-anatomical) and D (transverse/non-anatomical). Mechanical testing was performed under progressively increasing cyclic axial loading until fixation failure. SI joint movements were captured via optical motion tracking. Fixation performance was statistically evaluated at a level of significance p = 0.05.

Results

The highest cycles to failure were observed in group A (14038 ± 1057), followed by B (13909 ± 1217), D (6936 ± 1654) and C (6706 ± 1295). Groups A and B revealed significantly longer endurance than C and D (p ≤ 0.01).

Conclusions

Different screw orientations in the presented model do not influence substantially SI joint stability. However, anatomical reduction is not only mandatory to restore a malalignment, but also to increase the SI screw fixation strength and prevent fixation failures.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are not compensated and there are no other institutional subsidies, corporate affiliations, or funding sources supporting this work unless clearly documented and disclosed. This investigation was performed with the assistance of the AO Foundation via the AOTRAUMA Network (Grant No.: AR2013_10).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. AO Research Institute Davos, Clavadelerstrasse 8, 7270, Davos, Switzerland

      Gaston Camino Willhuber, Ivan Zderic, Dieter Wahl, Markus Windolf, Robert Geoff Richards & Boyko Gueorguiev

    2. Hospital Italiano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina

      Gaston Camino Willhuber, Carlos Sancineto & Jorge Barla

    3. Department of Trauma-, Hand- and Reconstructive Surgery, Friedrich-Schiller University Jena, Jena, Germany

      Florian Gras

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    1. Gaston Camino Willhuber
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    2. Ivan Zderic
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    Correspondence to Ivan Zderic.

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    Gaston Camino Willhuber and Ivan Zderic contributed equally to this work.

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    Camino Willhuber, G., Zderic, I., Gras, F. et al. Analysis of sacro-iliac joint screw fixation: does quality of reduction and screw orientation influence joint stability? A biomechanical study. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 40, 1537–1543 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-015-3007-0

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