We studied the effect of vitamin C on fracture healing in the elderly. A total of 80 elderly Osteogenic Disorder Shionogi rats were divided into four groups with different rates of vitamin C intake. A closed bilateral fracture was made in the middle third of the femur of each rat. Five weeks after fracture the femora were analysed by mechanical and histological testing. The groups with the lowe...

Oral bisphosphonates comprise the most widely prescribed class of antiosteoporotic drugs. Recent reports, however, suggest a link between prolonged bisphosphonate use and atypical low-energy, subtrochanteric fractures. We describe the clinical course of two patient treated for a long term with different bisphosphonates who developed subtrochanteric atypical fractures. They were treated initiall...

Thrombospondin-2 (TSP2) is a matricellular protein that is highly up-regulated during fracture healing. TSP2 negatively regulates vascularity, vascular reperfusion following ischemia, and cutaneous wound healing. As well, TSP2-null mice show increased endocortical bone formation due to an enhanced number of mesenchymal progenitor cells and show increased cortical thickness. Mice deficient in TS...

conclusions epo injection into the site of tibiofibular fractures may possibly accelerate healing. background erythropoietin (epo), in addition to its function as an erythropoiesis regulator has a regenerative activity on some nonhematopoietic tissues. animal studies have suggested a role for erythropoietin in bone healing. objectives the present study aimed to evaluate the effects of local epo...

INTRODUCTION: Despite our growing knowledge on the mechanisms of fracture healing, about 5-10% of all fractures still show delayed healing or fail to heal (Marsh, 1998). Beyond its classical role in regulation of erythropoiesis, erythropoietin (EPO) has been shown to exert protective and regenerative actions in a variety of non-hematopoietic tissues. In a previous study we could show that daily...

Introduction A unilateral external fixator comprises of a collection of pins, clamps and sidebars to form a construct on one side of the limb that can be used to stabilise bone fractures and promote healing. An external fixator can allow the operator to alter the flexibility of the fixation. In the presence of flexible fixation, fracture healing happens through the creation of callus, which mec...

Introduction: Fracture healing is a complex process that is responsible for forming a fracture callus to stabilize the site of injury while producing new bone. Delayed fracture healing or the development of non-union as a result of failed fracture healing is a major clinical concern effecting ~10% of all treated fractures. Recent studies have shown that RAP-661, an antagonist of Bone Morphogene...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE There is some clinical evidence that fracture healing is impaired in multiply injured patients. Nothing is known, however, about the effects of various types of injuries and their contribution to a possible disturbance of the fracture-healing process. We investigated the effect of a thoracic trauma and an additional soft-tissue trauma on fracture healing in a rat tibia mo...

The reliability of the radiological assessment of the healing of tibial fractures remains undetermined. We examined the inter- and intraobserver agreement of the healing of such fractures among four orthopaedic trauma surgeons who, on two separate occasions eight weeks apart, independently assessed the radiographs of 30 patients with fractures of the tibial shaft which had been treated by intra...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) promotes inflammation by synthesizing pro-inflammatory prostaglandins from arachidonic acid. Inflammation is an early response to bone fracture, and ablation of COX-2 activity impairs fracture healing. Arachidonic acid is also converted into leukotrienes by 5-lipoxygenase (5-LO). We hypothesized that 5-LO is a negative regulator of fracture healin...