Do volar locking plates fit the volar cortex of the distal radius?

The purpose of this study was to measure the volar cortical angles of the commercially available volar locking plates and evaluate how well they fit the distal radius. We measured the volar cortical angles of the radial and intermediate columns of eight volar locking plates and compared them with the volar cortical angles of 90 cadaver distal radii. The mean radial and intermediate column volar cortical angles of the wider plates were significantly larger than those of narrower plates. The mean radial and intermediate column volar cortical angles were significantly larger in wider radii than narrower radii. The width of the distal radius did not correlate well with the mean volar cortical angles of the radial and intermediate columns.