TissueDB/Materials/Plastic Pipe
Plastic Pipe is rigid plastic pipe used in surgical simulation as a bone analog — chiefly as the shaft of a long bone for drilling and external-fixator practice. It is the rigid counterpart to flexible Plastic Tubing: a stiff pipe used where a build needs a bone shaft rather than a soft tube. A documented form is PPR (polypropylene random copolymer) plumbing pipe; other builds use generic rigid plastic pipe. It is cut to length and drilled or pinned like bone, and can be packed with a soft filler (sand and vegetable oil) to represent the medullary cavity.
Tissues
| Tissue | Visual | Tactile | Simulator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bone (long-bone shaft) | Long Bone Drilling Simulator, Orthoplastic Reconstruction Simulator | PPR (polypropylene) plumbing pipe as the Variant B bone analog for drilling practice (Long Bone Drilling; bamboo is the Variant A alternative). In the Orthoplastic Reconstruction build, generic rigid plastic-pipe segments (about 3 cm diameter, cut to 15–20 cm) form the long-bone cortex either side of the fracture gap — packed with sand and vegetable oil for the medulla and drilled for external-fixator pins. |
References
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Overview
Low-cost and widely available as rigid plastic pipe (such as PPR / polypropylene plumbing pipe) from hardware and plumbing suppliers, in small diameters. Cut to length, then drill and fixate as bone.
Synonyms
Plastic pipe, rigid pipe, plumbing pipe; PPR pipe, polypropylene pipe, PPR (polypropylene random copolymer) pipe. Regional: tubo de plástico rígido / tubería de plástico (Spanish), tuyau en plastique rigide (French), Kunststoffrohr (German), tubo di plastica rigido (Italian).
| Authors | Arturopelayo, Ian-laurel |
|---|---|
| License | CC-BY-SA-4.0 |
| Cite as | Arturopelayo, Ian-laurel (2025–2026). "TissueDB/Materials/Plastic Pipe". Appropedia. Retrieved August 4, 2026. |