STORY BYA color-coded frame and a computer software program are helping orthopedic surgeons at The University of Texas Medical School at Houston mend shattered bones with less pain and more precision.
The Taylor Spatial Frame, which UT surgeons have been using for almost two years, is designed to treat a variety of severe bone fractures.
Surgeons fix the bone from the inside out by running wires through the shattered bits and attaching the wires to the frame, which surrounds and protects the broken limb.
The concept of an external frame is not new, but the Taylor Spatial Frame fixation system has added new components that allow surgeons to calculate bone correction with more accuracy, lessen pain and allow patients to take a more active role in their own recovery.
Taylor Spatial Frame can
be adjusted as the body
heals.
Kevin Coupe, M.D., assistant professor and program director in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, says surgeons can use the frame in conjunction with a computer software program that calculates a recipe for straightening the crooked bone.
The computer-assisted correction is a significant advancement, Coupe says.
With older-generation frames, physicians had to "give it the ol' orthopedic heave-ho" and pull the bone back together all at once during a lengthy surgery. It could be extremely painful for the patient.
It also required repeated radiation exposure (from X-ray imaging) during the surgery; afterward, if the bone wasn't healing correctly, patients often had to undergo another painful surgery.
The computer software reduces both surgery time and continual X-rays. Coupe says he can fit the patient with the frame during surgery. Afterward, he enters information about the fracture into the computer, and the software program generates a formula.
"It's kind of like GPS [global positioning system]," Coupe says. "You tell the computer where you are now, and it tells you where you need to go to put the bone back together."
Over the next 5-12 days, patients use that formula to assist in their own healing. The frame includes six telescopic struts that are attached at special universal joints. Patients can change the strut lengths as directed by simply rotating the adjustment knob.
Curtis Kindred (L) shattered his leg in a motorcycle wreck and is healing well with Coupe's help, and the patient-friendly Taylor Spatial Frame.
Rulers and color-coding on the struts make it easy for patients to follow the computer-generated recipe. And because they are making fine adjustments - just millimeters a day - over a span of about a week or two, the pain is significantly reduced, Coupe says.
Because patients can take an active role in their recovery, Coupe has found that the Taylor Spatial Frame seems to help with their mental healing as well as the physical healing after a traumatic accident.
"Often these are traumatic injuries and patients become depressed because they feel helpless," Coupe says. "With this, they have some control."
Curtis Kindred, whose leg was shattered just above the ankle during a motorcycle accident, says the recovery is lengthy and can be monotonous at times. But the frame has minimized pain, and he agrees it keeps him involved in his recovery.
"You have to make sure it stays on the right numbers," Kindred says. "It lets you know more about what's going on with your body and its healing."
Coupe says the recovery time with the Taylor Spatial Frame may not be any faster than that with older models, such as the Ilizarov frame. Patients could be outfitted with a frame for as little as three months to as much as a year.
Recovery time aside, the Taylor Spatial Frame offers improvements in the treatment of fractures, nonunions (broken bones or fragments that have failed to heal), and malunions, (deformed bones that didn't heal properly.)
"It gives us more options for treating patients with these kinds of injuries," Coupe says. "There is much less pain for the patient, and it gives better correction."
UPDATED: 3-22-2004
Editorial Board | Legal Disclaimer | Privacy & Security | Contact Us
©2000-2006 Office of Institutional Advancement, UT-Houston
Food Irradiation
and Safety
On August 22, 2008, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) published a final rule that allows the use of irradiation to make fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach safer and last longer without spoiling.
Irradiating fresh iceberg lettuce and spinach will help protect consumers from disease-causing bacteria such as Salmonella and Escherichia coli O157:H7 (E. coli). Illnesses from these bacteria range from uncomfortable symptoms to life-threatening health problems.
The foods affected by the final rule are
Irradiation (also sometimes termed "ionizing radiation") is a process of treating products with a measured dose of radiation. Food irradiation is not new. FDA has conducted irradiation safety evaluations for more than 40 years and has determined the process to be safe for use on a variety of foods.
After studying the safety of irradiating fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh spinach, FDA has determined that these greens, when irradiated under the conditions specified in the final rule, retain their nutrient value and are safe to eat.
FDA considers irradiation a complement to, not a replacement for, proper food-handling by producers, processors, and consumers. Irradiation is just another tool to reduce the levels of disease-causing microorganisms on fresh iceberg lettuce and fresh pinach.
Irradiation does not take the place of washing. FDA continues to recommend that consumers wash fresh and bagged produce before eating unless the packaging specifically states that the product has been pre-washed.
For more information, go to: http://www.fda.gov)
