• Abdul Hadi Abdul Wahab, Ng Bing Wui, Mohammed Rafiq Abdul Kadir, and Muhammad Hanif Ramlee.
• Medical Devices and Technology Centre (MEDiTEC), Institute of Human Centered Engineering (iHumEn), Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia; Bioinspired Devices and Tissue Engineering (BIOINSPIRA) Group, School of Biomedical Engineering & Health Sciences, Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Skudai, Johor, Malaysia. Electronic address: adiwahab67@gmail.com.
• Comput. Biol. Med. 2020 Dec 1; 127: 104062.

AbstractExternal fixators have been widely used in treating open fractures and have produced excellent outcomes, as they could successfully heal bones. The stability of external fixators lies greatly in their construction. Factors that associated with the stability of the external fixators includes stress, displacement, and relative micromotion. Three-dimensional (3D) models of bone and external fixators were constructed by using 3D modelling software, namely Materialise and SolidWorks, respectively. Three different configurations of external fixators namely Model 1, Model 2, and Model 3 were analysed. Three load cases were simulated to assess the abovementioned factors at the bone, specifically at the fracture site and at the external fixator. Findings showed that the double-cross configuration (Model 3) was the most promising in axial, bending, and torsion load cases as compared to the other two configurations. The no-cross configuration (Model 1) had the highest risk of complication due to high stress, relative micromotion, and displacement in the bending and torsion load cases. On the other hand, the single-cross configuration (Model 2) had the highest risk of complication when applied with axial load. In conclusion, the double-cross locking construct (Model 3) showed the biggest potential to be a new option for medical surgeons in treating patients associated with bone fracture. This new double-cross locking construct showed superior biomechanical stability as compared to single-cross and no-cross configurations in the axial, bending, and torsion load cases.Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

8 keywords...

hide…