Locking Plate System Improves Fracture Care

A new locking plate system has been developed to improve the treatment of high energy fractures and fractures in osteoporotic patients.

The Universal Locking System can provide excellent fixation in otherwise healthy
bone, but a key advantage of the design is that it can address patients whose bone quality has been compromised. Because of the system's proprietary hole design, a surgeon can utilize the plates as compression plates, locked internal fixators, or as an internal fixation system combining both techniques. The plate design will accept locking screws and most manufacturers' standard cortical (3.5 mm) or cancellous screws (4.0 mm) in any plate hole. The new system was presented at the annual meeting of the Orthopaedic Trauma Association in Phoenix (AZ, USA), held in October 2006.

Plating techniques remain the mainstay for managing most periarticular and selected long bone fractures, especially those with metaphyseal comminution. Poor bone quality increases the technical difficulty and complications of operative treatment of nonunions and delayed unions of the diaphyseal humerus, common in older patients. Plates with screws that lock to the plate (transforming each screw into a fixed blade) are intended to improve the fixation of poor quality bone.

The Universal Locking Plate system is a product of Zimmer (Warsaw, IN, USA).

"This innovative locking design provides differentiation and complements our
successful Zimmer periarticular locking plate products,” said Ray Elliott, chairman, president, and CEO of Zimmer. "The technology, because of its ability to address osteoporotic patients, also supports our efforts to address women's health issues.”



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