Young Pinoy doctor invents cheap way using nylon cable ties to fix fractures

MANILA, Philippines - A 29-year-old resident doctor from Bacolod City has been meeting with the world’s best orthopaedic surgeons to show them a cheap yet effective way to fix fractures, one that involves what you use to organize your computer or gadget cables.

Dr. Juan Agustin Coruña IV discovered that nylon cable ties — handy pieces of nylon that keep your cables from tangling — could be used to strengthen fracture fixation in broken bones using particular surgical techniques he has developed.

Nylon cable ties are easier to apply in the fractures, cost only a small fraction of stainless steel wire and yet elicit the same reaction of bone healing. This dramatically lowers surgical costs and will make orthopaedic operations accessible to those who initially could not afford it.

Coruña, of the Orthopaedics and Traumatology Department of Corazon Locsin Montelibano Memorial Regional Hospital (CLMMRH), started working on this new cerclage system in 2012. 

He developed and penned the novel study with Dr. Jose Maria Coruña, Orthopaedics and Traumatology Department chairman; Dr. Dove Demandante, resident of the Laboratory Department; and Dr. Hans Francis Ferraris, Laboratory Department and Research Committee chairman.

Coruña, a graduate of the University of the East Ramon Magsaysay Memorial Medical Center College of Medicine, has been presenting the study to academicians, clinicians and researchers from all over the world.

Last March, Coruña was the only delegate from the Philippines to the 60th Orthopaedic Research Society Annual Meeting in the United States, considered the premier forum for the presentation of new musculoskeletal research findings, attended by almost 3,000 medical experts.

Coruña also presented his research in the second Arbeitsgemeinschaft Osteosynthesefragen Trauma Asia-Pacific Scientific Congress and TK Experts’ Symposium in Daex, South Korea last May 16-17.

He again represented the Philippines in Kobe, Japan at the 87th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Orthopaedic Association on May 22-25.

“This is a well-conducted and interesting study evaluating a new type of cerclage system that combines goals of low cost and high function,” said Joan Bechtold, Ph.D., president of the Orthopaedic Research Society.

“There is a variety of cerclage wires or synthetic bands available, but the issues always are compatibility, durability, and the handling ability (ability to tension). This study addresses these issues and provides valuable in vivo data from a controlled study, on which to base sound clinical decisions,” Bechtold added.

Coruña’s participation in the scientific meetings puts the country, and particularly Negros Occidental, in the limelight as a budding outlet of excellent orthopaedic research.

“It has always been a dream of mine to present a study abroad, and to dedicate time for the advancement of relevant orthopaedic research for the Philippines,” Coruña said.

“The next step for my presented study is to perform strength testing to the nylon cable ties prior to human use so that what could possibly benefit Filipinos first and foremost is based on solid scientific evidence,” he said.

Coruña’s study was supported by CLMMRH, headed by Dr. Julius Drilon, as part of the institution’s commitment to training professionals and taking care of its patients.

The CLMMRH, one of the leading government hospitals in the country, was recently awarded with an ISO 9001:2008 certification for quality management systems. 

For more information on Coruña and his studies, e-mail at [email protected].