Overall wrist biomechanics are conserved by phenol-based embalming

Although cadaveric specimens that have been fresh-frozen then thawed are considered the gold standard for biomechanics research, because they most closely represent in vivo tissues, potential problems include a relatively short useful time-span and risk of infection. A recently reported new method of phenol-based "soft" embalming has been found to preserve tissues in a fresh-like state over an extended period of time and simultaneously reduced infection risks. This study presents radio-ulnar deviation end-range data from 4 soft-embalmed and refrigerated human cadaveric forearm specimens over 12 months. All end-range comparisons were found to be statistically equivalent to within a clinically acceptable range of ±5 degrees of radio-ulnar deviation with a 95% con. dence measure of p < 0.01 in every case. These soft-embalmed specimens provide promising results for further use in biomechanical studies.