Fatigue fracture of bone plates.

Of all the possible causes of bone plate failure, by far the most common is failure by fatigue. The effect of the environment and loading regime on the fatigue life is discussed. The use of the corrosion potential for the evaluation of fatigue experiments and the detection of fatigue cracks in explanted plates is described. The authors demonstrate that the surface finish and the possibility of a loss in fatigue strength after plate remodelling are factors that should not be ignored when testing bone plates.