RESEARCH ARTICLE


A Novel Nontoxic Wood-Plastic Composite Cast



Lindfors NC1, *, Salo J2
1 Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Orthopedic and Hand Surgery, Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland
2 Helsinki University Central Hospital, Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, Töölö Hospital and Helsinki University, Helsinki, Finland

Article Information


Identifiers and Pagination:

Year: 2012
Volume: 4
First Page: 1
Last Page: 5
Publisher Id: TOMDJ-4-1
DOI: 10.2174/1875181401204010001

Article History:

Received Date: 26/9/2011
Revision Received Date: 14/1/2012
Acceptance Date: 17/1/2012
Electronic publication date: 08/3/2012
Collection year: 2012

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© 2012 NC et al.;

open-access license: This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0), a copy of which is available at: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Correspondence: * Address correspondence to this author at the Toolo Hospital, Topeliuksenkatu 5, 00260 Helsinki, Finland. Tel: +358 50 4270845; Fax: +358 9 47187531; E-mail: nina.c.lindfors@hus.fi


Abstract

Casting is one of the oldest methods in fracture treatment, yet shortcomings and problems with current materials are still clear. Here a novel composite casting material is presented. The material is thermoplastic, nontoxic, absolutely freely moldable in 3D, and does not disturb X-ray analysis. After heating to +62-64 °C, the material can be cut with a normal pair of scissors and can be shaped to suit individual anatomy.

We also report the first clinical series of 33 wrist fractures treated with this wood-polymer composite material. The clinical results revealed that the cast is stable and highly durable, but still offers exceptional X-ray- radiolucent properties. The average casting time was 5.3 min. Patient satisfaction was high, mainly due to the stability and the lightweight structure of the cast. The feedback from experienced orthopedic technicians was excellent.

Keywords: Cast, splinting, immobilization, fracture, wood, orthopedic equipment, orthopedic fixation devices..