{"id":{"repo_id":"cape-town","oai_identifier":"oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37090"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/cape-town/oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/37090","repository":{"repo_id":"cape-town","name":"University of Cape Town","base_url":"https://open.uct.ac.za/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The Reuse of Circular External Fixator Components: An Assessment of Safety and Potential Savings","abstract":"Purpose: Cost saving strategies are important especially in a resource constrained environment. One such strategy well supported in literature is the reuse of temporary monolateral external fixator components, a strategy we utilize at our institution. The aim of the study was to determine the safety and cost saving associated with the reuse of definitive circular external fixator components in a resource constrained environment. Method: We performed a retrospective review of all adult patients who were treated with either new or reused circular external fixators from a single manufacturer between January and December 2017. Reused circular external fixator components, excluding half pins and wires, were subjected to an in-house reprocessing protocol. Cost savings were calculated as the difference between the price of a completely new frame and the amount invoiced for new components only in a reused frame. Results: 33 patients were included in the study with an average age of 31.9 years. The mean duration of treatment with a circular external fixator was 5.8 months. No mechanical failure events were recorded during the study period. Our institution saved approximately 52% (R717 503.89) and 63 % (R136 568.19) of expected total cost for hexapod and Ilizarov frames respectively. Conclusion: The strategy of reusing circular external fixator components is unconventional and this study was conducted to evaluate the safety and potential savings in a resource constrained environment. We demonstrated this practice to be reasonably safe and to result in significant cost savings which might be relevant in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs).","abstract_html":"Purpose: Cost saving strategies are important especially in a resource constrained environment. One such strategy well supported in literature is the reuse of temporary monolateral external fixator components, a strategy we utilize at our institution. The aim of the study was to determine the safety and cost saving associated with the reuse of definitive circular external fixator components in a resource constrained environment. Method: We performed a retrospective review of all adult patients who were treated with either new or reused circular external fixators from a single manufacturer between January and December 2017. Reused circular external fixator components, excluding half pins and wires, were subjected to an in-house reprocessing protocol. Cost savings were calculated as the difference between the price of a completely new frame and the amount invoiced for new components only in a reused frame. Results: 33 patients were included in the study with an average age of 31.9 years. The mean duration of treatment with a circular external fixator was 5.8 months. No mechanical failure events were recorded during the study period. Our institution saved approximately 52% (R717 503.89) and 63 % (R136 568.19) of expected total cost for hexapod and Ilizarov frames respectively. Conclusion: The strategy of reusing circular external fixator components is unconventional and this study was conducted to evaluate the safety and potential savings in a resource constrained environment. We demonstrated this practice to be reasonably safe and to result in significant cost savings which might be relevant in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs).","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Chironga, Kudzai"],"institution":"Division of General Surgery","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Laubscher, Maritz"],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2022,"date_issued":"2022","date_published":"2022","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:52Z","subjects":["Orthopaedic Surgery"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37090","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Laubscher, Maritz"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Chironga, Kudzai"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.accessioned","label":"Dc Date Accessioned","values":["2023-03-01T12:40:05Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2023-03-01T12:40:05Z"]},{"key":"dc:date.issued","label":"Date","values":["2022"]},{"key":"dc:publisher.department","label":"Dc Publisher Department","values":["Division of General Surgery"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["Master Thesis"]},{"key":"dc:type.qualificationlevel","label":"Dc Type Qualificationlevel","values":["Masters","MMed"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Orthopaedic Surgery"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier.uri","label":"Identifier URI","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37090"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Purpose: Cost saving strategies are important especially in a resource constrained environment. One such strategy well supported in literature is the reuse of temporary monolateral external fixator components, a strategy we utilize at our institution. The aim of the study was to determine the safety and cost saving associated with the reuse of definitive circular external fixator components in a resource constrained environment. Method: We performed a retrospective review of all adult patients who were treated with either new or reused circular external fixators from a single manufacturer between January and December 2017. Reused circular external fixator components, excluding half pins and wires, were subjected to an in-house reprocessing protocol. Cost savings were calculated as the difference between the price of a completely new frame and the amount invoiced for new components only in a reused frame. Results: 33 patients were included in the study with an average age of 31.9 years. The mean duration of treatment with a circular external fixator was 5.8 months. No mechanical failure events were recorded during the study period. Our institution saved approximately 52% (R717 503.89) and 63 % (R136 568.19) of expected total cost for hexapod and Ilizarov frames respectively. Conclusion: The strategy of reusing circular external fixator components is unconventional and this study was conducted to evaluate the safety and potential savings in a resource constrained environment. We demonstrated this practice to be reasonably safe and to result in significant cost savings which might be relevant in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs)."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The Reuse of Circular External Fixator Components: An Assessment of Safety and Potential Savings"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Laubscher, Maritz"],"dc:creator":["Chironga, Kudzai"],"dc:date.accessioned":["2023-03-01T12:40:05Z"],"dc:date.available":["2023-03-01T12:40:05Z"],"dc:date.issued":["2022"],"dc:description.abstract":["Purpose: Cost saving strategies are important especially in a resource constrained environment. One such strategy well supported in literature is the reuse of temporary monolateral external fixator components, a strategy we utilize at our institution. The aim of the study was to determine the safety and cost saving associated with the reuse of definitive circular external fixator components in a resource constrained environment. Method: We performed a retrospective review of all adult patients who were treated with either new or reused circular external fixators from a single manufacturer between January and December 2017. Reused circular external fixator components, excluding half pins and wires, were subjected to an in-house reprocessing protocol. Cost savings were calculated as the difference between the price of a completely new frame and the amount invoiced for new components only in a reused frame. Results: 33 patients were included in the study with an average age of 31.9 years. The mean duration of treatment with a circular external fixator was 5.8 months. No mechanical failure events were recorded during the study period. Our institution saved approximately 52% (R717 503.89) and 63 % (R136 568.19) of expected total cost for hexapod and Ilizarov frames respectively. Conclusion: The strategy of reusing circular external fixator components is unconventional and this study was conducted to evaluate the safety and potential savings in a resource constrained environment. We demonstrated this practice to be reasonably safe and to result in significant cost savings which might be relevant in low-and-middle income countries (LMICs)."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/11427/37090"],"dc:publisher.department":["Division of General Surgery"],"dc:subject":["Orthopaedic Surgery"],"dc:title":["The Reuse of Circular External Fixator Components: An Assessment of Safety and Potential Savings"],"dc:type":["Master Thesis"],"dc:type.qualificationlevel":["Masters","MMed"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:22:52Z"}