VetWelding

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VetWelding

The same ultrasonic bone anchor, for patients who cannot be told to rest

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Challenge

A cat's jaw and a toy-breed dog's femur are small, thin and often fragile, and the hardware available for them was mostly human hardware, scaled down. Screws need a tapped thread the bone may not be able to give; they need bone stock a kitten does not have; and every metal implant raises the question of a second operation to take it out. Nor can a veterinary patient be asked to keep weight off it for six weeks. Fixation has to hold from the moment the animal wakes up.

A cat at the vet - small, fragile bone is the hard case this was built for

Solution

VetWelding was founded in 2017 in Stansstad to take BoneWelding® - the Creaholic invention, licensed from WoodWelding SA - into veterinary surgery. A sonotrode drives a thermoplastic implant into a pre-drilled hole; shear between polymer and bone liquefies the polymer just at the interface, it flows into the trabecular structure and solidifies within seconds. The interface warms by less than 10 °C and only briefly, so bone healing is not disturbed. There is no thread to tap, the anchorage is immediate, and the resorbable implants do not need taking out again.

  • Step one: the sonotrode drives the thermoplastic implant into a pre-drilled hole
  • Step two: shear liquefies the polymer, which flows into the trabecular bone
  • Step three: it solidifies in seconds - anchored, with no thread to tap
  • The BoneWelder® Vet ultrasonic device

Results

The range now covers the Weldix® Anchor and Weldix® Anchor with Suture, the BoneWelder® Vet ultrasonic device, matched drill bits and a Resorb Pin and Plate System - used in cats, dogs and horses for orbital floor fractures, cruciate and collateral ligament stabilisation, biceps tenodesis and Salter-Harris fractures. Surgeons report shorter operating times and better primary stability. Histology from the platform's studies shows the polymer interdigitated with bone and no resorption at the interface, degrading over about twelve months with minimal inflammatory response.

  • A patient
  • Another
  • Histology: polymer interdigitated with bone, and no resorption at the interface

At a glance

Founded
2017 · Stansstad, Switzerland
Origin
BoneWelding® from WoodWelding SA - Creaholic's ultrasonic anchoring platform
Products
Weldix® Anchor · BoneWelder® Vet · Resorb Pin and Plate System
Patients
Cats, dogs and horses - orthopaedics, CMF and ligament repair

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