• Mark Lenz, Stephan Marcel Perren, Boyko Gueorguiev, Robert Geoff Richards, Fabian Krause, Alberto Fernandez Dell'Oca, Dankward Höntzsch, and Markus Windolf.
• AO Research Institute Davos, Clavadelerstrasse 8, 7270 Davos-Platz, Switzerland. mark.lenz@aofoundation.org
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2012 Oct 1;132(10):1467-72.

IntroductionCerclages regain interest due to a rising number of periprosthetic fractures. The contact distribution at the circumferential cerclage-bone interface is still unknown. Local interface pressure depends on the amount of contact area. Cortical damage at the interface would provoke cerclage loosening. Therefore, the contact area, the bone pressure along the interface and the cortical resistance underneath loaded cerclages were determined in an ex vivo model.Materials And MethodsHuman diaphyseal femoral bone was used with differing cross-sectional geometry. Bone contact points of fixed 1.5 mm wire and 1.7 mm cable cerclages were identified from axial radiographs. Pressure distribution at the cerclage-bone interface was recorded with a pressure-measuring film using a distraction setup with two cortical half shells. Bone shells with installed cerclages were separated with up to 400 N force and were subsequently analyzed histologically to detect cortical damage.ResultsBoth cerclage types exhibited a point contact fixation with non-loaded spanned zones in-between. Cables cover larger contact areas. Both cerclages exhibited an inhomogeneous interface pressure distribution depending on the bone surface geometry. Histology revealed intact cortical bone without cortical affection after loading of both cerclage types.ConclusionPoint contact fixation of the cerclages installs non-loaded, spanned zones where the periosteum is not compressed, rendering a strangulation of the blood supply unlikely. Cortical bone withstands static concentric pressure produced by the cerclage. Cortical groove formation is attributed to instability under functional load and not to weakness of the cortex itself.

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