This shows the Pennig Wrist Fixator on a sawbone. You can see that here it is bridging the joint, with bone screws in the second metacarpal and the radial shaft. Now let’s look at the fixator in more detail.
Here are the first and second screws going in. The Image Intensifier picture shows that both cortices have been penetrated.
This ensures that the radial nerve can be identified, moved out of the way gently with a retractor if necessary, and not damaged.
This line corresponds with the axis of rotation of the wrist joint. Now if the surgeon wants to mobilize the wrist joint after about 3 weeks, the distal ball joint is loosened, and gentle flexion and extension allowed.
This allows manipulation and reduction of the fracture while distancing the surgeon’s hands from the X-ray beam.
Here’s a nasty comminuted, articular fracture of the distal radius treated by bridging the joint with the fixator.
Here’s the healed result.
This shows the use of the Fragment Fixation System implants as a supplementary technique to restore the articular surface of the radius and reattach the ulnar styloid.