Orthopedic hardware removal tools

[Eli Luong]

Hi,

I am a college undergraduate student working on a team investigating
alternative methods involved in removing small orthopedic implants from
patients (focusing on screws). I'm having a difficult time trying to
locate information regarding the tools that surgeons use during
implantation and removal. For implantation they seem to use a drill and
then anything after that depends upon the type of screw they use. So it
looks like they use a screw set from some medical company. For removal
I've only seen them use the screw set that came with the original
screws. Are there any other types of tools they use? It would be useful
if I could get a popular company that commonly supplies these tools.

Thanks,
- Eli

[sanj]

Dear Eli
Contact AO Foundation. You can go on there site and get hold of the
Rep. who can give all the info
Sanj

Post by Eli Luong
Hi,
I am a college undergraduate student working on a team investigating
alternative methods involved in removing small orthopedic implants from
patients (focusing on screws). I'm having a difficult time trying to
locate information regarding the tools that surgeons use during
implantation and removal. For implantation they seem to use a drill and
then anything after that depends upon the type of screw they use. So it
looks like they use a screw set from some medical company. For removal
I've only seen them use the screw set that came with the original
screws. Are there any other types of tools they use? It would be useful
if I could get a popular company that commonly supplies these tools.
Thanks,
- Eli

[ben]

Post by sanj
Dear Eli
Contact AO Foundation. You can go on there site and get hold of the
Rep. who can give all the info
Sanj

Post by Eli Luong
Hi,
I am a college undergraduate student working on a team investigating
alternative methods involved in removing small orthopedic implants from
patients (focusing on screws). I'm having a difficult time trying to
locate information regarding the tools that surgeons use during
implantation and removal. For implantation they seem to use a drill and
then anything after that depends upon the type of screw they use. So it
looks like they use a screw set from some medical company. For removal
I've only seen them use the screw set that came with the original
screws. Are there any other types of tools they use? It would be useful
if I could get a popular company that commonly supplies these tools.
Thanks,
- Eli

Eli,
I'm an orthopedic resident. When removing hardware we usually use some
kind of screwdriver that put the screw in. Most of them have hexagonal
shaped heads but some of the tiny ones have a cross shape (not phillips
per se but just a cross).

Unfortunately they often strip on removal and then we often use a vice
grip. There are some medical companies that make vice grips but
actually the best ones are the real-live Vice-Grip tools that you buy
at the hardware store and sterilize. The medical ones are usually
pathetic and wouldn't last a week in a garage.

There are also screw removal tools that drill into the screw and then
have a bit that fits that hole and you can wind against the threads to
get it out. (same technology as a garage).

I would love to see someone study how terrible the medical vice grips
are. Surgical steel, bah.

[Joe Jared]

Post by ben
I'm an orthopedic resident. When removing hardware we usually use some
kind of screwdriver that put the screw in. Most of them have hexagonal
shaped heads but some of the tiny ones have a cross shape (not phillips
per se but just a cross).

Wouldn't it make more sense to design a product that naturally degrades in
the body, allowing the bone to naturally heal itself? We do that with
stitches already, and more quickly, we take time release capsules.
Instead of weeks it would likely need to be years, but I believe it is
possible to use a non-oil based product that the body could metabolize
over time, slowly giving the bone time to grow around it as it shrinks.
Once perfected, the only real downside is that it would eliminate costly
invasive removal of screws. Alternatively, what if the screw itself had
roughly the same percentages of calcium and other substances that would
normally exist in the bone. Would the body reject it?

[ortholove1]

Hi,
what you are talking about is now available but not in the wide
spread manner coz of its coast...the biodegredable implant..it can be
used nowaday in the ACL reconstruction or other applictions

Post by Joe Jared

Post by ben
I'm an orthopedic resident. When removing hardware we usually use some
kind of screwdriver that put the screw in. Most of them have hexagonal
shaped heads but some of the tiny ones have a cross shape (not phillips
per se but just a cross).

Wouldn't it make more sense to design a product that naturally degrades in
the body, allowing the bone to naturally heal itself? We do that with
stitches already, and more quickly, we take time release capsules.
Instead of weeks it would likely need to be years, but I believe it is
possible to use a non-oil based product that the body could metabolize
over time, slowly giving the bone time to grow around it as it shrinks.
Once perfected, the only real downside is that it would eliminate costly
invasive removal of screws. Alternatively, what if the screw itself had
roughly the same percentages of calcium and other substances that would
normally exist in the bone. Would the body reject it?
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