CORROSION COMMENTARY

Abstract

CORROSION HAZARDS IN SURGERY. AN elegant experiment with radioactive isotopes has revealed the cause of corrosion of metal plates used in surgery for repairing broken bones. It had been thought that the reason for this corrosion was the transfer of traces of foreign metal from the screwdriver to the screws used to fix the plates. This has been confirmed by scientists of the Royal Infirmary, Bradford, and the Department of Physical Chemistry, Cambridge, who incorporated radio‐chromium in a surgical screwdriver and measured the amount of radio‐activity transferred to the screws. The two metals in contact may set up an electric cell which can cause the serious condition which prevents healing known as electrolytic inflammation. The experiment was described in a paper presented at the 2nd Radio‐Isotope Conference held in Oxford recently.

Citation

(1954), "CORROSION COMMENTARY", Anti-Corrosion Methods and Materials, Vol. 1 No. 7, pp. 223-225. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb018958