Comparison of Bond Strengths of Novel Bone Adhesives and Resorbable Plates and Screws: In Vitro Study

Objective. To determine if novel bone adhesive systems are a viable alternative to using screws for internal fixation. Background. The plate-screw fixation that requires the drilling of holes may weaken the bone leading to fractures. Fixation using adhesives has several advantages, including the ease of application, faster setting times, better biomechanical properties, and biodegradability. Methods. Four adhesives, octyl-cyanoacrylate, n butyl-cyanoacrylate, novel methacrylate and cyano-acrylate derivative, were tested for microtensile and shear bond strengths. Human cadaveric parietal bone samples were cut into rectangular bars with the following specifications: samples of 2mm X 2mm X 20mm cut into two halves and glued together for microtensile testing, paired samples of 2mm X 2mm X 20mm overlapped with by 10 mm for shear testing, and paired samples of 6mm X 4mm X 20mm attached together by a resorbable plate (6 X 22.8mm) with either adhesives or screws for shear testing. Humid conditions were maintained during experimentation. Data was analyzed by Dunnet’s multiple comparisons along with Tukey’s adhoc testing. A pvalue of < 0.05 is considered significant. Results. N butyl cyanoacrylate and novel cyanoacrylate derivative (1.37±0.26 MPa & 0.5±0.22 MPa, p < 0.05) had significant strengths compared with the other adhesives. The mean strength for resorbable plate and screws was 0.47±0.11 MPa. Conclusion. Adhesives have been developed that have equivalent or better bond strengths than screw fixation. N butyl cyanoacrylate and a novel cyanoacrylate derivative have shown great potential for use in fixation of fractured bone. Grants. This study was funded by Biomet Microfixation (Jacksonville, Florida)