Wrist Fractures Repaired Without a Cast

Locking plates designed specifically for the wrist eliminate the need for larger incisions and allow early return to function.

The VariAx Distal Radius Locking Plate System incorporates the SmartLock locking technology, designed to encourage a locked screw to plate interface due to the combination of grade II titanium plates (softer) and grade V titanium screws and pegs (harder). The threads on the underside of each screw or peg head are designed to engage the circular "lip” in each plate hole upon insertion and create a locked construct.
The plates are processed with type II anodization, designed to increase the strength of the plates and reduce incidence of tissue adhesion. The polyaxial locking capabilities of the system help to provide a 30-degree locking cone in which each locking screw or peg can be individually placed.

The system comes with volar anatomic or universal plates, and dorsal anatomic and fragment specific plates. Any locking screw or peg can be locked in any hole (except the oblong hole) in any plate. Polyaxial locking may offer the advantage of avoiding fracture lines, joint space, or catching specific fragments without the need for removal of previously placed screws or re-positioning of the plate itself, simply by removing the particular screw and re-directing it. Locking screws can then be removed, re-directed, and re-inserted in the same hole up to three times, without compromising locking strength. The new locking plates allow surgeons to make much smaller placement incisions on the palm side of the wrist. Patients wear a dressing to keep the wound clean and a splint for three to five days, and physiotherapy begins just days after the surgery. The VariAx Distal Radius Locking Plate System is a product of Stryker (Kalamazoo, MI, USA).

"The new plates are much more stable than older models. The screws holding the plate to the bone now lock into the plate creating a strong bond to hold the bone in place,” said Mark Cohen, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon at Rush University Medical Center (Chicago, IL, USA). "It used to take six to nine months to fully recover from a fractured wrist. With this new plate technology, smaller incisions, and early rehabilitation, some patients tell me they feel normal within two months.”

Broken wrists are more common in women than men. The incidence increases rapidly after menopause with the highest percentage of wrist fractures in women between the ages of 60 to 69 years. Osteoporosis, or age related bone loss, is mostly to blame.


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