FACTOID # 174: One in three Italian babies is born by caesarean section.
 
 Home   Encyclopedia   Statistics   Countries A-Z   Flags   Maps   Education   Forum   FAQ   About 
 
WHAT'S NEW
RECENT ARTICLES
More Recent Articles »
 

FACTS & STATISTICS    Simple view

  1. Select countries to view: (hold down Control key and click to select several)

     

     

    Compare:

     

     

  1. Select fact or statistic: (* = graphable)

     

     

     

  2. (OPTIONAL) Compare to statistic: (both need to be graphable)

     

     

     

  3. View result as:

     

       
(OR) SEARCH ALL encyclopedia, stats & forums:   

Encyclopedia > Fracture (bone)

A fractured bone in a living person is typically treated by restoring the fractured pieces of bone to their natural positions (if necessary), and maintaining those positions while the bone heals. To this end, a fractured limb is usually immobilized with a plaster or fiberglass cast which fixes the healthy bones above and below the fracture. In some cases surgical nails, screws, plates and wires are used to hold the fractured bone together more directly. Occasionally smaller bones, such as toes, may be treated without the cast, by buddy wrapping them, which serves a similar function to making a cast. By allowing only limited movement, fixation helps preserve anatomical alignment while enabling callus formation, towards the target of achieving union. Operative methods of treating fractures have their own risks and benefits, but usually surgery is done only if the risk of conservative treatment outweighs the potential benefit of an operation. Grays illustration of a human femur, a typically recognized bone. ... This article is about the building material. ... Glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), is a composite material or fibre reinforced plastic made of a plastic reinforced by fine fibers made of glass. ... Toes are the digits of the foot of a human or animal. ...

Contents


Classification

In medicine, fractures are classified as closed or open (compound) and simple or comminuted. Closed fractures are fractures where the skin is intact and there is no bone poking out while open (compound) fractures involve wounds that expose bone. Open injuries carry an elevated risk of infection and at minimum require antibiotic treatment, and in fact many require urgent surgical treatment. The only method of accurately diagnosing a closed fracture is by having an X-Ray photograph taken of the injury. Simple fractures are fractures that occur along one line, splitting the bone into two pieces while comminuted fractures involve the bone splitting into multiple pieces. A simple, closed fracture is much easier to treat and has a much better prognosis than an open, comminuted fracture. Other considerations in fracture care are displacement (fracture gap) and angulation. If angulation or displacement are large, reduction (manipulation) of the bone may be required and, in adults, frequently requires surgical care. These injuries may take longer to heal than injuries without displacement or angulation. In children, whose bones are still developing, there is the risk of a greenstick fracture. This type of fracture occurs because the bone is not as brittle as it would be in an adult, and thus does not completely fracture, but exhibits bowing without complete disruption of the cortex. Plastic deformation of the bone is also possible in children, a situation in which the bone permanently bends but does not break. These injuries may require an osteotomy (bone cut) to realign the bone if it is fixed and cannot be realigned by closed methods. Medicine on the Web NLM (National Library of Medicine, contains resources for patients and healthcare professionals) Virtual Hospital (digital health sciences library by the University of Iowa) Online Medical Dictionary Collection of links to free medical resources Categories: Medicine | Health ... In the NATO phonetic alphabet, X-ray represents the letter X. An X-ray picture (radiograph) taken by Röntgen An X-ray is a form of electromagnetic radiation with a wavelength approximately in the range of 5 pm to 10 nanometers (corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 PHz... A greenstick fracture is a bone fracture seen almost exclusively in young children. ... The outermost layer of the brain, the cortex is rich in neurons and is the site of most sophisticated neural processing (See also: cerebral cortex). ... In physics and materials science, plasticity is a property of a material to undergo a non-reversible change of shape in response to an applied force. ...


Bone response

Infection is especially dangerous in bones, due to limited blood flow. Bone tissue is predominantly extracellular matrix, rather than living cells, and the blood vessels needed to support this low metabolism are only able to bring a limited number of immune cells to an injury. For this reason, open fractures and osteotomies call for very careful antiseptic procedures and (as mentioned above) propylactic antibiotics. In biology, extracellular matrix (ECM) is any material part of a tissue that is not part of any cell. ...


Fracture implants should also be designed and installed with care. Stress shielding occurs when plates or screws carry too large a portion of the bone's load, causing atrophy. This problem is reduced, but not eliminated, by the use of low-modulus materials, including titanium and its alloys. The heat generated by the friction of installing hardware can easily accumulate and damage bone tissue, reducing the strength of the connections. If dissimilar metals are installed in contact with one another (i.e., a titanium plate with cobalt-chromium alloy or stainless steel screws), galvanic corrosion will result. The metal ions produced can damage the bone locally and may cause systemic effects as well. Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. ... In solid mechanics, Youngs modulus (also known as the modulus of elasticity or elastic modulus) is a measure of the stiffness of a given material. ... General Name, Symbol, Number titanium, Ti, 22 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 4, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 47. ... This article is on the periodic element. ... General Name, Symbol, Number chromium, Cr, 24 Chemical series transition metals Group, Period, Block 6, 4, d Appearance silvery metallic Atomic mass 51. ... In metallurgy, stainless steel is defined[1] as a ferrous alloy with a minimum of 10. ... Corrosion Corrosion is deterioration of useful properties in a material due to reactions with its environment. ...


See also

A stress fracture is a very small sliver or crack in the bone that is accompanied by intense pain. ... Osteoporosis is a disease of bone in which the amount of bone is decreased and the strength of trabecular bone is reduced, cortical bone becomes thin and bones are susceptible to fracture. ... A fibrocartilage callus is a temporary fibrocartilage callus which forms as bone attemps to heal a fracture. ... When a bone breaks the most important thing is the state of the periosteum, the membrane covering the bone. ... Distal radius fractures are a very common injury of the radius that occur at the distal end, where the wrist joint lies. ... A break in the femur just below the pelvis; approximately 320,000 hospitalizations occur each year due hip fractures. ...

External links


  Results from FactBites:
 
hairline fracture: Definition and Much More from Answers.com (1500 words)
An example of a compression fracture is when the front portion of a vertebra in the spine collapses due to osteoporosis, a medical condition which causes bones to become brittle and susceptible to fracture (with or without trauma).
Bone fractures are typically treated by restoring the fractured pieces of bone to their natural positions (if necessary), and maintaining those positions while the bone heals.
Bone tissue is predominantly extracellular matrix, rather than living cells, and the few blood vessels needed to support this low metabolism are only able to bring a limited number of immune cells to an injury to fight infection.
MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia: Bone fracture repair (598 words)
Bone fracture repairs are surgical procedures to realign and stabilize broken bones (fractures) with plates, nails, screws, or pins.
Bone grafts may be used to allow for proper healing or to speed the healing process.
Bone grafting may be performed using the patient's own bone, usually taken from the hip, or using bone from a donor.
  More results at FactBites »


 

COMMENTARY     


Share your thoughts, questions and commentary here
Your name
Your comments
Please enter the 5-letter protection code

Want to know more?
Search encyclopedia, statistics and forums:

 


Lesson Plans | Student Area | Student FAQ | Reviews | Press Releases |  Feeds | Contact
The Wikipedia article included on this page is licensed under the GFDL.
Images may be subject to relevant owners' copyright.
All other elements are (c) copyright NationMaster.com 2003-5. All Rights Reserved.
Usage implies agreement with terms.