In Vitro Acute Load to Failure and Eyelet Abrasion Testing of a Novel Veterinary Screw‐Type Mini‐Anchor Design

Objective To determine acute load to failure (ALF) and suture abrasion (SA) at 0° and 90° for a novel screw‐type mini‐anchor design. Study Design Biomechanical in vitro study. Sample Population Synthetic bone. Methods Twenty mini‐anchors were inserted into synthetic bone blocks assigned to 1 of 2 groups (0° ALF, 90° ALF). Pullout was performed at 5 mm/min. ALF, yield strength and stiffness were calculated. SA constructs were created with 4 groups of 5 anchors each with either 30 lb nylon leader line (NLL), 40 lb NLL, #2 Fiberwire or #5 Fiberwire. SA was performed at 0° and 90° with a sinusoidal wave form at 0.5 Hz and 10 N load for 1000 cycles or until failure. Data were summarized as mean ± SD. ALF data were analyzed using t‐tests. SA data were analyzed using log rank, Tukey‐adjusted pairwise comparisons and sign tests. Significance was set at P  = .05. Results Mean ± SD ALF at 0° and 90° was 431.8 ± 70.8 N and 683 ± 48.7 N, respectively. 90° ALF was significantly higher. Yield strength and stiffness were not significantly different at 0° and 90°. #5 and #2 Fiberwire survived significantly more cycles than 40 lb and 30 lb NLL at 90°. At 0°, 30 lb NLL survived significantly less cycles than either Fiberwire size. Suture orientation did not have a significant effect on SA for Fiberwire constructs. Conclusion The novel mini‐anchor has ALF comparable to other mini‐anchors. Fiberwire survived more cycles in the novel anchor eyelet than NLL and FW suture orientation in the eyelet did not affect SA.