Design And Practicability Study Of The Modified Ilizarov External Fixator

OBJECTIVE: To design a modified Ilizarov external fixator that is easy to assemble,fix and adjust,and able to be fixed rigidied and adjusted accurately.Then,the practicability study was performed to evaluate the application prospect of the modified Ilizarov external fixator in clinical practice.METHODS: The design scheme of the modified Ilizarov external fixator was proposed by analyzing the defects of the traditional Ilizarov external fixator,and the modified Ilizarov external fixator was produced accordingly.Then,twenty artificial tibias were dividied into two groups,with 10 in each group.The traditional or modified Ilizarov external fixator was fixed on the artificial tibias.The pre-assemble duration,fixation duration,and adjusting duration of the external fixator in the traditional Ilizarov external fixator group and the modified Ilizarovexternal fixator group were recorded and assessed.RESULTS: The major defects of the traditional Ilizarov external fixator lay in the poor designed metal rod and junction component.As a result,a modified Ilizarov external fixator was designed and produced by modifying the metal rods and junction components of the traditional Ilizarov external fixator.The results of the practicability study demonstrated that,although there was no statistically significant difference in the fixation duration between the traditional Ilizarov external fixator group(265.40± 22.47 sec)and the modified Ilizarov external fixator group(256.30±19.50 sec,P = 0.346),the modified Ilizarov external fixator shorten the pre-assemble duration(10.16±0.20 min)and the adjusting duration(49.20±5.39 sec)of the external fixator compared with the traditional Ilizarov external fixator(16.83±0.59 min,P< 0.001;152.90±16.07 sec,P< 0.001).Besides that,the adjusting duration in 2cm(200.10±20.67 sec)of the traditional Ilizarov external fixator,was significantly longer than that in the adjusting duration in 1cm(152.90±16.07 sec,P = 0.001),while the adjusting duration in 2cm(52.46±4.25 sec)of the modified Ilizarov external fixator and the adjusting duration in 1cm(49.20 ± 5.39 sec)of the modified Ilizarov external fixator was not statistically significant(P = 0.093).CONCLUSIONS: The modified Ilizarov external fixator designed in this study is easy to use and be able to reduce the the pre-assemble duration and the adjusting duration of the external fixator.Besides that,the modified Ilizarov external fixator can be adjusted accurately.Therefore,it is valuable to apply the modified Ilizarov external fixator to clinical application widely.