Pullout strengths of cannulated and noncannulated cancellous bone screws

The pullout strengths of large diameter cannulated and noncannulated cancellous screws were tested in a synthetic polyurethane foam. The foam was fabricated to have mechanical properties equivalent to human cancellous bone and was characterized by compression testing before screw pullout. Long and short thread commercially available screws from four manufacturers were tested. In screws with short threads (16-22 mm), there was no difference in holding power among the four cannulated screw designs. However, the short thread non-cannulated screw performed significantly better than the short thread cannulated screw with the lowest pullout strength. There were statistically significant differences in holding power among the different long thread (32-40 mm) cannulated screw designs. Additionally, the long thread noncannulated screw had better holding power than several of the long thread cannulated screws. No differences in pullout strengths between comparably sized cannulated and non-cannulated screws produced by the same manufacturer were found, and all long thread screws had significantly greater holding power than all short thread screws. There was no demonstrable effect on holding power when screws were inserted with or without tapping. Thread surface area was found to be a reasonable predictor of holding power.