Skeletal stabilization with a multiplane external fixation device. Design rationale and preliminary clinical experience.

A multiplane circumferential frame solves many of the technical, biomechanical, physiologic, and psychologic problems connected with external skeletal fixation. Predrilling of pins, uniplane adjustment capabilities, and titanium and aluminum alloy materials provide adaptability, adjustability, and compatibility. Preliminary clinical trials show multiplane half-pin fixation to the tibia to be adequate and uniquely applicable to complicated open fractures in severely injured limbs.