Polymer Osteosynthesis

A Clinical Trial of Ostamer in Forty-two Patients

¹ Department of Orthopaedics, School of Medicine, Louisiana State University, New Orleans

Osteosynthesis by means of a polyurethane polymer, ostamer, was attempted fifty-one times in forty-two patients with a variety of orthopaedic conditions.

Nine operations resulted its firm fixation and bone union, thirty-seven were failures, and five produced fixation that was clinically stable at the time of writing but without roentgenographic evidence of union. Failure of fixation was due to breakage of the polymer or loosening of its bond to bone. Twenty-one of the fifty-one operations were complicated by wound infection or by the development, three weeks to fourteen months after primary healing, of draining sinuses. Complete removal of the plastic was necessary to stop persistent drainage. Gross and microscopic examination of the plastic material removed at the secondary operations never demonstrated any osteoblastic activity within the lacunar spaces.

The use of ostamer for osteosynthesis is not recommended.

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