I recently had an interesting dicussion with a man (welder by profession) who had back surgery and requested a titanium plate versus SST for his back surgery. The doctor provided this for him, saying either was available but that they normally use SST.
As a mechanical engineer in the chemical industry, I would think that Titanium is for superior to SST in every way except for cost - but the cost difference cannot be that bad compared to other medical costs. I also worried (wondered) if the doctor's training is good enough to recognize that if a plate is Titanium that then I would think the screws had better be titanium also - I would not mix sst and titanium.
The doctor also said that bacteria can gravitate to the plate, interesting, is this true? If so, does anyone know if Titanium is similar.
Bottom line for this thread is - is Titanium or SST better for back surgery, etc?
The more you learn, the less you are certain of.
As a mechanical engineer in the chemical industry, I would think that Titanium is for superior to SST in every way except for cost - but the cost difference cannot be that bad compared to other medical costs. I also worried (wondered) if the doctor's training is good enough to recognize that if a plate is Titanium that then I would think the screws had better be titanium also - I would not mix sst and titanium.
The doctor also said that bacteria can gravitate to the plate, interesting, is this true? If so, does anyone know if Titanium is similar.
Bottom line for this thread is - is Titanium or SST better for back surgery, etc?
The more you learn, the less you are certain of.
