Biomechanical study of the fixation ability of the dorsal and volar locking plate for transverse metacarpal neck fractures

Abstract

Metacarpal neck fracture is one of the most common types of hand fractures; the literature suggests that applying a bone plate on the dorsal side provides higher fixation strength than that provided by other fixation methods. However, bone plate fixation on the dorsal side may result in postoperative tendon adhesion. So far, no studies have investigated the fixation of metacarpal neck fractures on the volar side by using a bone plate. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in the fixation results between bone plate fixation on the dorsal side and bone plate fixation on the volar side of the metacarpal in the case of a metacarpal neck fracture. A saw blade was used to create a transverse metacarpal neck fracture on 14 artificial metacarpal bone specimens. The specimens were divided into 2 groups depending on the fixation method: a volar locking plate (VLP) group and a dorsal locking plate (DLP) group. All specimens were subjected to a cantilever bending test on a material testing system, and a force–displacement curve was used to measure the yield force and stiffness, which served as an indicator of the fixation ability of the 2 fracture fixation methods. For the experimental results, the Mann–Whitney U test was used to compare the fixation abilities of the 2 fixation methods. In terms of yield force, the DLP group (266.9 ± 68.3 N) scored significantly higher than the VLP group (32.6 ± 2.7 N) (P < .05); expressed in terms of median, the DLP group scored 8.2 times higher than the VLP group. Similarly, in terms of stiffness, the DLP group (69.0 ± 13.4 N/mm, median ± interquartile range) scored significantly higher than the VLP group (12.9 ± 1.4 N/mm) (P < .05); expressed in terms of median, the DLP group scored 5.3 times higher than the VLP group. The fixation strength of volar bone plates is only about one-third of that of dorsal bone plates.