[EXOTHERMIC REACTIONS OF PLASTER IMMOBILIZATION – ANALYSIS OF THREE KINDS OF PLASTER BANDAGES]

Exothermic reaction of plaster is a very important characteristic to understand, especially when it comes to complications which can occur during local temperature change during molding plaster of Paris. And these complications directly influence the speed and quality of treatment. In this paper we measured temperatures of plaster bandage tiles 10×10 cm, from three different manufacturers in Croatian hospitals: Safix plus (Hartmann, Germany), Cellona (Lohmann &Rauscher, Austria) and Gipsan ( Ivo Lola Ribar, Croatia). We made three different plaster tiles 10×10 cm, from 10, 15 and 30 layers of plaster bandages. We immersed plaster tiles in two different water temperatures, one group in water 22 °C, and another in 34 °C. Although all plaster bandages have similar chemical characteristics, we have measured some differences. All three kinds of plaster bandages used in Croatia have low exothermic reaction when plaster molding is done in standard conditions, average local temperature is low and there is no danger of local burns. We immersed a plaster tile with 15 layers in water on 34° C, and highest average temperature was measured at Gipsan (46.2 °C), then Cellona (41.3 °C) and Safix plus (38.9 °C). On the same water immersion temperature, on plaster tile with 30 layers average temperatures were Gipsan (48.4°C), Cellona (45.4 °C), and lowest in Safix plus (41.3 °C). Plaster tiles form all manufacturers, when used 15-30 layers thick, and water immersion temperature is 34°C, develop average temperature over 40°C, in duration from 8-12 minutes. Between three different plaster bandages analyzed, Gipsan (Ivo Lola Ribar, Croatia) developed highest temperature, and some plaster tiles were measured over 50 °C.