Tension band wire fixation may be an alternative to tibial eminence fracture fixation techniques

Gan, Y. Knee Surg Sports Traumatol Arthosc. 2011. doi: 10.1007/s00167-011-1649-z.

The use of a recently designed tension band wire to repair tibial eminence fractures appears to be a practical alternative to conventional fixation methods, according to researchers in China.

The investigators stripped 80 porcine knees of all soft tissue except for the ACL complex and divided them into four groups of 20 knees each. The researchers used an osteotome to administer a standard type III fracture to each knee.

They used four different methods to repair the fracture, including PDS II sutures, steel wires, cannulated screws and a recently designed tension wire, which consisted of a steel wire encircling a K-wire fixation. The researchers then subjected the groups to a load rate of 60 mm/min using a material testing machine and examined the differences in ultimate failure load, yield load and displacement of the fragment under single-cycle loading and cyclical loading.

“Tension band wire fixation of eminence fractures appears to provide biomechanical advantages over the other three fixation methods,” as well as showing significantly higher maximum yields, yield loads and less displacement than other methods, the authors wrote. Specimens repaired with steel wire yielded the second highest maximal load, followed by specimens using the cannulated screw. The method with the lowest maximal load was with the PDS II suture.