Mechanical properties of three orthopedic wire configurations.

An 18-gauge stainless steel wire was applied to a transverse fracture model to determine the antirotational effectiveness of cruciate, horizontal mattress, and simple interrupted interfragmentary wire configurations. The number of twists used to tighten the configuration and the distance from the fracture were compared in the cruciate and horizontal mattress patterns. In a 2nd experiment, the compressive forces generated at the fracture by cruciate and horizontal mattress configurations tightened with 1 and 2 twists were determined. The cruciate configuration was better than the horizontal mattress and simple interrupted configurations in preventing rotation (P less than 0.001). Increasing the distance from the fracture line to the wire holes decreased antirotational effectiveness. Tightening the cruciate and horizontal mattress configurations with 2 twists produced significantly greater compressions across the fracture line than did tightening with 1 twist (P less than 0.0001).