Background:
Management of long bone fractures in large animals is always a challenge due to the heavyweight of the animal and the need for immediate weight-bearing on the limb. Commonly available internal fixation implants in the market are developed for human use, which are not adequate for fixation in large bovines. Locking Compression Plate is one of the advanced internal fixation techniques with several mechanical advantages; however, the locking plate designed specifically for the radius of large ruminants (cattle and buffaloes) is not available for ready clinical use. Technology Details:
The designer locking plate developed at IVRI is unique in that it is well contoured to the bovine radius, has two rows of screw holes (both locking and non-locking) in different planes giving double plate effect. It was also tested for in vitro mechanical properties and in vivo clinical application. The designer locking plate may have large market potential as no such device is available for large animal use; once made available a large number of veterinary surgeons from different veterinary colleges, polyclinics and private veterinary practitioners may use the plate in routine large animal clinical practice to treat complex fractures of radius-ulna which are otherwise difficult to treat.