IBioE seminar: Desirable mechanical conditions for fracture healing

Location: 

Hudson Beare Building - Classroom 8

Date: 

Wednesday, January 14, 2015 - 12:45 to 14:00

Pizza will be available at 12.45, and the seminar will start at 1pm.

Speaker

Professor Peter Augat
Professor of Biomechanics at Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria and Director Institute of Biomechanics, Trauma Center Murnau, Germany.

Abstract

Successful healing of bone fractures requires adequate mechanical and biological conditions, the so called optimized mechanobiology. The local mechanical conditions at a fracture site induce either endochondral or desmal formation of bone tissue. Generally, small strains favour the direct formation of bone tissue by osteoblast formation and proliferation. Larger strains favour the secondary healing pathway by induction of chondrocytes and formation of cartilage followed by a secondary calcification of cartilaginous tissue.

Experimental evidence suggests that the optimized mechanobiology is different at different stages of the fracture healing process. Early healing stages seem to favour more stable conditions while later stages may tolerate larger amounts of movement. The effective mechanical environment is determined by connective tissue in and around the fracture site and by the fracture fixation device. Therefore, the process of periosteal callus formation can be considered as an autoregulatory pathway for the optimization of the mechanobiological environment. However, for this pathway to adequately control the healing process, some sort of mechanical fixation of the fracture is required. Different fixation devices will support different healing pathways depending on the mechanical stability of the device. As the stability of the mechanical fixation typically is not modified during the healing process, different stages of the healing process will be supported differently.

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Event Contact Name: 

Dr Pankaj

Event Contact Email: