Today I was at home as Duke Hospital would not allow me in the operating room due to Covid-19 restrictions. I spent the day further researching the procedure to hold the tibia and fibula in place. This procedure is used when there is a fracture in the tibia or fibula. After this procedure, these bones will be held in place for healing.
This procedure is an ORIF surgery and the method I learned about is the Anthrex Tightrope procedure. This procedure varies due to the location of the fracture, however, there are a few similarities between each procedure. This procedure is done by first attaching a plate to the tibia or fibula. This plate will be attached by a maximum of 9 screws and will act as an anchor in the bone. Then, the surgeon will drill a hole threw the bone and the plate. A “tightrope” (a very strong wire) will be threaded through the hole and tied at the other side. This wire will anchor the tibia to the fibula and hold both bones in place.
The image above shows how the tightrope is used to hold the tibia and fibula in place.