Femoral orthopedic implants in dogs with titanium - mechanical evaluation

ABSTRACT

Background: Orthopedic implants are commonly used for different types of surgical procedures to gain optimal functionand to provide stability to both bones and tendon structures. When inserting these implants, the characteristics of the material are important for surgical success, and the ideal implant must be biocompatible and nonallergenic. However, whenmolding an implant to the bone structure, its resistance can change significantly. Implants can be temporary or permanentin the body, and metal possesses properties that make it acceptable for bone repair. In biomedical implants, 2 types aremost common, commercially pure (CP)-Ti and Ti-6A1-4V. They both provide stable fixation and low risk of loosening.Implants made with the same material and composition can perform differently if the material has been altered by processing techniques for different scenarios. Stress, strain and elastic modulus are the primary metrics used in the description ofimplant materials. They can be calculated based on mechanical tests of specimens with defined geometry, most commonlytensile, bending and torsional tests. In order to better evaluate those changes, we compared the mechanical characteristicsof titanium bone plates, before and after they were molded to the bone, to verify and quantify the loss of stiffness andresistance after molding the plate.Materials, Methods & Results: The study was prospective. Orthopedic implant made of commercially pure titanium (CPTi) were divided into 2 groups, one group without plate molding and the other with plate molding to a dog femora bone.Thirty-six plates of different sizes (5.0, 6.5, 8.0, 9.0, 10.0- and 11.0-mm diameter) were divided into 6 groups containing6 plates of each size and submitted to the 4-point flexion test of resistance, using a piece of dog femur (weights of 5, 10,15, 20 and 25 kg) as the bone in which the...