Titanium clamps for refixation of bone fragments in the repair of depressed skull fractures: technical note.

The rigid fixation of bone fragments in the repair of depressed skull fractures can be a problem, especially if not all fragments are replaceable. Usually, in these cases mini- or microplates are used. The Craniofix titanium clamp (Aesculap, Germany) was developed for the fixation of bone flaps after osteoplastic craniotomy. It consists of a screw holding together two 10-mm diameter metallic disks with concaved teeth pressing bone flap and cranium between the two disks. We used this system for the operative treatment of two patients with depressed skull fracture. A rigid fixation of the bone fragments was achieved in both cases. The postoperative three-dimensional CT scan showed a good fragment alignment. From the report of two cases we show that this system is a useful tool in the fixation of bone fragments in the repair of depressed skull fractures.