External fixation is chosen when the fracture can be held but the limb cannot be opened. Peak Surgicals supplies five complete carbon fibre systems, from 72 to 86 pieces, CE marked and built under ISO 13485. Compare all five systems in the grid below.
When the Frame Goes Outside the Limb
An external fixator holds a fracture from outside the limb, with pins entering bone away from the fracture site and a frame spanning it. Nothing crosses the fracture itself, which is the whole clinical argument for the technique: an open fracture with contaminated soft tissue, a limb too swollen for plating, an infected non-union that still needs wound access, or a periarticular fracture needing distraction across the joint.
That also makes it the temporising option. A frame goes on in the emergency department or the first theatre visit, holds length and alignment while soft tissue recovers, and comes off when definitive fixation becomes possible. The Hoffmann pattern, introduced by the Geneva surgeon Raoul Hoffmann in the late 1930s and still the system carried by US military trauma teams, is built for that: modular components assembled to fit the injury rather than a fixed frame. We supply every system at MOQ 1.
Why Carbon Fibre Rods, and What They Cost You
Carbon fibre rods are not a weight-saving detail. Metal rods are radiopaque, so they sit across the fracture in every radiograph and hide the callus the surgeon is trying to assess. The practical consequence is a second film and more radiation for both patient and theatre team. Radiolucent rods let alignment and healing be assessed straight through the frame, including on medio-lateral views where a metal sidebar would overlap the bone entirely.
The mechanical trade is smaller than it looks. Carbon rods test stiffer than stainless tubes in isolation, and a complete carbon construct reaches roughly eighty-five percent of the fixation stiffness of a steel one, the difference sitting in the clamp interface rather than the rod. Against that, a carbon frame is lighter on a limb the patient will carry for weeks or months.
Small Fragment or Large Fragment?
Fragment size sets the pin diameter, and pin diameter is matched to cortical thickness rather than to surgeon preference. Small fragment systems run 3mm and 4mm pins for the radius, ulna, metacarpals, metatarsals, fibula and distal tibia, on 5mm rods; Hoffmann External Fixation Small Fragment Set 79-Piece (PS-HEFSFS-00135, $1,650.00) covers that range with rods from 120mm to 200mm for everything from single-level metacarpal fixation to a wrist-spanning frame.
Large fragment systems take 5mm and 6mm pins on 8mm or 11mm rods for tibial and humeral shaft fractures and periarticular work at the ankle, knee and elbow. Hoffmann External Fixation Set 72-Piece 8mm (PS-HEFLFS-00134, $1,759.99) carries straight rods to 300mm plus semi-circular rods for curved frames, while External Fixator Instruments Set 86-Piece (PS-EFIS-00131, $1,650.00), Set-III 76-Piece (PS-EFIS-00133, $1,650.00) and Set-II 75-Piece 11mm (PS-EFIS-00132, $1,540.00) offer alternative component counts and rod diameters.
Material, Reprocessing and Certification
Metal components are manufactured from surgical stainless steel and passivated for corrosion resistance across repeated cycles; connecting rods are carbon fibre composite. Follow the reprocessing instructions supplied with each system, since carbon rod reuse limits are set by the manufacturer and differ from those for the metal components. The inspection point is the clamp faces and the rod surface: check clamp jaws for wear or rounding where they grip, and inspect rods along their length for scoring or crushing at previous clamp positions, because that is where a rod fails rather than at mid-span. Confirm every coupling locks solidly through its full travel.
These systems are CE marked and built under ISO 13485, supplied in an aluminium case with all assembly instruments included, and backed by a one-year manufacturing warranty. We ship at MOQ 1 with free shipping over $99, and OEM production is available for distributors. See External Fixators for individual components, or browse all Orthopedic Instruments. Talk to us about OEM and volume terms.
