Optimizing bone cement stiffness for vertebroplasty through biomechanical effects analysis based on patient-specific three-dimensional finite element modeling

The influence of cement-bone composite material on the biomechanical properties of cervical partial vertebral osteotomy fusion surgery

By establishing micro finite element models of cement-bone composite materials and fusion surgery models (C4-C7), the mechanical properties of cement-bone composite materials (Polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) and a mixture of PMMA and calcium phosphate bone cement (PMMA/CPC)) were analyzed, and the influence of bone cement on the biomechanical properties of anterior cervical discectomy fusion surgery with partial vertebral osteotomy was evaluated. The results revealed that compared with bone cement, the elastic modulus of cement-bone composite material decreased, the PMMA/CPC+bone (osteoporosis) decreased by 73.65% compared to PMMA/CPC. Furthermore, compared with the PMMA/CPC+bone (osteoporosis), the mechanical properties of the PMMA/CPC+bone (osteoporosis) composite material are closer to those of healthy cancellous bone, exhibiting a lower elastic modulus and higher strain compatibility. This study suggests that choosing PMMA/CPC as a reinforcement material may be more beneficial for cervical fusion surgery in patients with osteoporosis.

Biomechanical Effects of Different Spacing Distributions Between the Cemented Superior Boundary and Surgical Vertebral Superior Endplates After Percutaneous Vertebroplasty for Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures: A Three-Dimensional Finite Element Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF) treated with vertebroplasty (PVP) are experiencing an increasing number of problems such as pain recurrence, mainly due to recompression fractures of the operated vertebral body within a certain period of time after the operation, which is closely related to the distribution of intraoperative bone cement. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of different spacing distributions between the upper boundary of the cement and the upper endplate of the operated vertebra on the biomechanics of the operated vertebra after percutaneous vertebroplasty for OVCF using finite element analysis (FEA).

METHODS

One patient with L1 vertebral body OVCF was selected, and computed tomography (CT) of the thoracolumbar segment was performed. The CT data were extracted to establish an FEA model of the T12-L2 vertebral bodies. Bone cement was injected into the L1 vertebral body. Based on the spacing between the upper boundary of the bone cement and the vertebral body's upper endplates, the model vertebrae were divided into 0, 2, 4, and 6 mm spacing groups, and the human body's upright, flexion-extension, lateral flexion, and rotational positions were simulated. The biomechanical effects of different spacing distributions on the postoperative L1 vertebral body and the injected bone cement were evaluated.

RESULTS

In this paper, we found that the Von Mises stress of the L1 vertebrae was the smallest when the spacing between the upper boundary of the bone cement and the vertebral body's upper endplates was 0 mm. The larger the spacing in a certain range between the upper boundary of the bone cement and the vertebral body's upper endplates, the greater the Von Mises stress of the L1 vertebrae. However, in the stress comparison of the injected bone cement, the Von Mises stress of the bone cement was greatest when the spacing between the upper boundary of the bone cement and the upper endplate of the vertebral body was 0 mm; the larger the spacing, the smaller the Von Mises stress.

CONCLUSION

When the contact spacing between the upper boundary of the bone cement and the upper endplate of the vertebral body is 0 mm, it can effectively eliminate and transfer the pressure caused by the load, thus reducing the stress on the cancellous bone and further reducing the risk of vertebral refracture after surgery.

Clinical efficacy and biomechanical analysis of a novel hollow pedicle screw combined with kyphoplasty for the treatment of Kümmell disease

Background

Vertebral augmentation is the preferred treatment for Kümmell disease (KD), but there exists a risk of cement displacement resulting in severe back pain and exacerbation of kyphosis. The study aimed to investigate the efficacy and safety of a novel hollow pedicle screw combined with kyphoplasty (HPS-KP) for treating KD, effectively preventing postoperative bone cement displacement.

Methods

The prospective study included 50 KD patients with no neurological deficit detected during clinical and radiological evaluation who underwent HPS-KP (n = 25) and PKP (n = 25) surgeries. The visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Oswestry dysfunction index (ODI), anterior vertebral height (AVH), wedge-shape affected vertebral Cobb angle (WCA), bisegmental Cobb angle (BCA), and complications were evaluated and compared in both groups. Besides, a finite element (FE) model of T11-L2 was constructed. The stress distributions, maximum von Mises stresses of vertebrae and bone cement, and maximum displacement of bone cement were compared and analyzed.

Results

The VAS and ODI scores at 3 days, 3 and 6 months, and 1 year after surgery significantly improved in both groups (p < 0.05). The AVH, BCA, and WCA significantly improved initially after the surgery in both groups (p < 0.05). The displacement of M2 was larger than other models, especially in flexion, right bending, and left and right rotation, while that of M6 was the lowest under all conditions.

Conclusion

HPS-KP was a safe and effective treatment for KD, effectively relieving pain, restoring vertebral height, and correcting local kyphosis, and it had better biomechanical stability and safety than ordinary single PKP and PKP combined with pediculoplasty in avoiding cement loosening and displacement.

Image-Based Peridynamic Modeling-Based Micro-CT for Failure Simulation of Composites

By utilizing computed tomography (CT) technology, we can gain a comprehensive understanding of the specific details within the material. When combined with computational mechanics, this approach allows us to predict the structural response through numerical simulation, thereby avoiding the high experimental costs. In this study, the tensile cracking behavior of carbon-silicon carbide (C/SiC) composites is numerically simulated using the bond-based peridynamics model (BB-PD), which is based on geometric models derived from segmented images of three-dimensional (3D) CT data. To obtain results efficiently and accurately, we adopted a deep learning-based image recognition model to identify the kinds of material and then the pixel type that corresponds to the material point, which can be modeled by BB-PD for failure simulation. The numerical simulations of the composites indicate that the proposed image-based peridynamics (IB-PD) model can accurately reconstruct the actual composite microstructure. It can effectively simulate various fracture phenomena such as interfacial debonding, crack propagation affected by defects, and damage to the matrix.

Finite element analysis of precise puncture vertebral augmentation in the treatment of different types of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures

BACKGROUND

Osteoporosis vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) secondary to osteoporosis is a common health problem in the elderly population. Vertebral augmentation (VA) has been widely used as a minimally invasive surgical method. The transpedicle approach is commonly used for VA puncture, but sometimes, it is limited by the anatomy of the vertebral body and can not achieve good surgical results. Therefore, we propose the treatment of OVCF with precise puncture vertebral augmentation (PPVA). This study used finite element analysis to explore the biomechanical properties of PPVA in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) with wedge, biconcave, and collapse deformities.

METHOD

Three-dimensional finite element models of the fractured vertebral body and adjacent superior and inferior vertebral bodies were established using Computed Tomography (CT) data from patients with OVCF, both before and after surgery. Evaluate the stress changes of the wedged deformed vertebral body, biconcave deformed vertebral body, collapsed deformed vertebral body, and adjacent vertebral bodies before and after PPVA.

RESULT

In vertebral bodies with wedge deformity and collapsed deformity, PPVA can effectively reduce the stress on the vertebral body but increases the stress on the vertebral body with biconcave deformity. PPVA significantly decreases the stress on the adjacent vertebral bodies of the wedge deformed vertebral body, and decreases the stress on the adjacent superior vertebral body of biconcave deformity and collapsed deformed vertebral bodies, but increases the stress on the adjacent inferior vertebral bodies. PPVA improves the stress distribution of the vertebral body and prevents high-stress areas from being concentrated on one side of the vertebral body.

CONCLUSION

PPVA has shown positive surgical outcomes in treating wedge deformed and collapsed deformed vertebral bodies. However, its effectiveness in treating biconcave vertebral body is limited. Furthermore, PPVA has demonstrated favorable results in addressing adjacent superior vertebral body in three types of fractures.

Effect of cement volume on biomechanical response of a spine segment treated with a PEEK polymer implant: a finite element comparative study with vertebroplasty

In the current study, a 3D finite element study was performed to investigate the biomechanical response of an osteoporotic spine segment treated with a novel transpedicular implant (V-STRUT©, Hyprevention, France) made of PEEK (polyetheretherketone) material combined with either injections of 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 cc of cement. The objective was to assess numerically the biomechanical performance of the implant in combination with different doses of the injected bone cement and to compare its performance with the gold standard vertebroplasty (VP) technique. A female (69 yo) was selected and a 3D finite element model of an osteoporotic spine segment was built based on a Computed Tomography (CT) scan performed from T12 to L2 with corresponding intervertebral discs and ligaments. A heterogeneous distribution of bone material properties was assigned to the bone using grey scale levels. Bilateral ellipsoid geometries of the inserted cement were retained for the V-STRUT and VP models based on experimental observation performed on different patients treated with the V-STRUT device. The current study demonstrated an optimal dose of 4 cc of bilaterally injected cement for the V-STRUT and VP techniques to restore the treated segment and confirmed that the V-STRUT device in combination with bone cement is superior to VP alone in establishing the normal stiffness and in reducing the applied stress to the immediately adjacent vertebral levels.

Enhancing percutaneous kyphoplasty efficacy in elderly osteoporotic fractures through optimal cement filling ratio

Objective

To explore the appropriate bone cement filling ratio in percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF).

Methods

Clinical and radiological data from 150 OVCF patients treated with PKP were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were categorized into three groups based on bone cement filling ratio: low (<0.4), medium (0.4-0.6), and high (>0.6) filling ratio groups. The clinical characteristics (age, gender, BMI, etc.) and related study data (bone cement leakage and its location, pre/post-operative Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), pre/post-operative Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), vertebral height restoration, kyphotic Cobb angle, etc.) among the three groups were compared using statistical software to compare to identify the most appropriate cement filling ratio.

Results

The 0.4-0.6 group presented a lower cement leakage rate compared to the >0.6 group, and there were no significant differences in pre-operative VAS, post-operative day 2 VAS, post-operative month 1 VAS, and pre-operative ODI (p>0.05). However, significant differences were observed in post-operative month 3 VAS (p=0.002), post-operative day 2 ODI (p=0.002), post-operative month 1 ODI (p<0.001), and post-operative month 3 ODI (p<0.001). The "0.4-0.6" group showed better pain improvement and functional recovery compared with the ">0.6" group at the 3-month follow-up. While presenting the best vertebral height restoration, the ">0.6" group also exhibited the greatest variability. Additionally, no significant difference in Cobb angle changes was observed among the groups.

Conclusion

A bone cement filling ratio of 0.4-0.6 in PKP treatment for OVCF strikes a favorable balance between complication reduction and positive patient outcomes, warranting it as an optimal filling volume.

Preclinical Evaluation of Bioactive Small Intestinal Submucosa-PMMA Bone Cement for Vertebral Augmentation

In vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty, bioinert poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) bone cement is a conventional filler employed for quick stabilization of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs). However, because of the poor osteointegration, excessive stiffness, and high curing temperature of PMMA, the implant loosens, the adjacent vertebrae refracture, and thermal necrosis of the surrounding tissue occurs frequently. This investigation addressed these issues by incorporating the small intestinal submucosa (SIS) into PMMA (SIS-PMMA). In vitro analyses revealed that this new SIS-PMMA bone cement had improved porous structure, as well as reduced compressive modulus and polymerization temperature compared with the original PMMA. Furthermore, the handling properties of SIS-PMMA bone cement were not significantly different from PMMA. The in vitro effect of PMMA and SIS-PMMA was investigated on MC3T3-E1 cells via the Transwell insert model to mimic the clinical condition or directly by culturing cells on the bone cement samples. The results indicated that SIS addition substantially enhanced the proliferation and osteogenic differentiation of MC3T3-E1 cells. Additionally, the bone cement's biomechanical properties were also assessed in a decalcified goat vertebrae model with a compression fracture, which indicated the SIS-PMMA had markedly increased compressive strength than PMMA. Furthermore, it was proved that the novel bone cement had good biosafety and efficacy based on the International Standards and guidelines. After 12 weeks of implantation, SIS-PMMA indicated significantly more osteointegration and new bone formation ability than PMMA. In addition, vertebral bodies with cement were also extracted for the uniaxial compression test, and it was revealed that compared with the PMMA-implanted vertebrae, the SIS-PMMA-implanted vertebrae had greatly enhanced maximum strength. Overall, these findings indicate the potential of SIS to induce efficient fixation between the modified cement surface and the host bone, thereby providing evidence that the SIS-PMMA bone cement is a promising filler for clinical vertebral augmentation.

Biomechanical study of different bone cement distribution on osteoporotic vertebral compression Fracture-A finite element analysis

Purpose

This study aimed to compare the biomechanical effects of different bone cement distribution methods on osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF).

Patients and methods

Raw CT data from a healthy male volunteer was used to create a finite element model of the T12-L2 vertebra using finite element software. A compression fracture was simulated in the L1 vertebra, and two forms of bone cement dispersion (integration group, IG, and separation group, SG) were also simulated. Six types of loading (flexion, extension, left/right bending, and left/right rotation) were applied to the models, and the stress distribution in the vertebra and intervertebral discs was observed. Additionally, the maximum displacement of the L1 vertebra was evaluated.

Results

Bone cement injection significantly reduced stress following L1 vertebral fractures. In the L1 vertebral body, the maximum stress of SG was lower than that of IG during flexion, left/right bending, and left/right rotation. In the T12 vertebral body, compared with IG, the maximum stress of SG decreased during flexion and right rotation. In the L2 vertebral body, the maximum stress of SG was the lowest under all loading conditions. In the T12-L1 intervertebral disc, compared with IG, the maximum stress of SG decreased during flexion, extension, and left/right bending and was basically the same during left/right rotation. However, in the L1-L2 intervertebral discs, the maximum stress of SG increased during left/right rotation compared with that of IG. Furthermore, the maximum displacement of SG was smaller than that of IG in the L1 vertebral bodies under all loading conditions.

Conclusions

SG can reduce the maximum stress in the vertebra and intervertebral discs, offering better biomechanical performance and improved stability than IG.

Bone Cements Used in Vertebral Augmentation: A State-of-the-art Narrative Review

Vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) are common in osteoporotic patients, with a frequency projected to increase alongside a growing geriatric population. VCFs often result in debilitating back pain and decreased mobility. Cement augmentation, a minimally invasive surgical technique, is widely used to stabilize fractures and restore vertebral height. Acrylic-based cements and calcium phosphate cements are currently the two primary fill materials utilized for these procedures. Despite their effectiveness, acrylic bone cements and calcium phosphate cements have been associated with various intraoperative and postoperative incidents impacting VCF treatment. Over the past decade, discoveries in the field of biomedical engineering and material science have shown advancements toward addressing these limitations. This narrative review aims to assess the potential pitfalls and barriers of the various types of bone cements.

Finite element study on three osteotomy methods for treating thoracolumbar osteoporotic fracture vertebral collapse complicated with neurological dysfunction

BACKGROUND

Surgical methods for patients with osteoporotic fracture vertebral collapse complicated with neurological dysfunction are still a topic of debate. We designed an improved osteotomy for the treatment of osteoporotic compression fracture patients with neurological dysfunction. Compared with traditional osteotomy methods such as pedicle subtraction osteotomy (PSO) and bone-disc-bone osteotomy (BDBO), the osteotomy range is reduced. Therefore, we use a finite element method to analyze the biomechanical conditions of these three osteotomy methods and provide a mechanical theoretical basis for the surgical treatment of these three osteotomy methods.

METHODS

Based on the CT scan of a patient with L1 osteoporotic fracture vertebral collapse and neurological dysfunction, the finite element model was constructed by importing Mimics software, and three different osteotomy models were established. The forces and displacements of internal fixation device, T1-L5 whole segment, T10 vertebral body, and T10/11 intervertebral disc were recorded under different working conditions.

RESULTS

The displacement levels of internal fixation device, T1-L5 spine, T10 vertebral body, and T10/11 intervertebral disc in the modified osteotomy group were between BDBO group and PSO group. The stress in BDBO group was concentrated in titanium mesh and its maximum stress was much higher than that in PSO group and modified osteotomy group. The mechanical distribution of T10/11 intervertebral disc showed that the maximum stress distribution of the three osteotomy methods was similar.

CONCLUSION

The relatively simple modified osteotomy has certain advantages in stress and displacement. In contrast, the stability of BDBO group was poor, especially in the lumbar intervertebral disc and lumbar body. For this type of osteotomy patients, it is recommended to avoid postoperative flexion so as not to increase the load.

Biomechanical analysis of sandwich vertebrae in osteoporotic patients: finite element analysis

Objective

The aim of this study was to investigate the biomechanical stress of sandwich vertebrae (SVs) and common adjacent vertebrae in different degrees of spinal mobility in daily life.

Materials and methods

A finite element model of the spinal segment of T10-L2 was developed and validated. Simultaneously, T11 and L1 fractures were simulated, and a 6-ml bone cement was constructed in their center. Under the condition of applying a 500-N axial load to the upper surface of T10 and immobilizing the lower surface of L2, moments were applied to the upper surface of T10, T11, T12, L1, and L2 and divided into five groups: M-T10, M-T11, M-T12, M-L1, and M-L2. The maximum von Mises stress of T10, T12, and L2 in different groups was calculated and analyzed.

Results

The maximum von Mises stress of T10 in the M-T10 group was 30.68 MPa, 36.13 MPa, 34.27 MPa, 33.43 MPa, 26.86 MPa, and 27.70 MPa greater than the maximum stress value of T10 in the other groups in six directions of load flexion, extension, left and right lateral bending, and left and right rotation, respectively. The T12 stress value in the M-T12 group was 29.62 MPa, 32.63 MPa, 30.03 MPa, 31.25 MPa, 26.38 MPa, and 26.25 MPa greater than the T12 stress value in the other groups in six directions. The maximum stress of L2 in M-T12 in the M-L2 group was 25.48 MPa, 36.38 MPa, 31.99 MPa, 31.07 MPa, 30.36 MPa, and 32.07 MPa, which was greater than the stress value of L2 in the other groups. When the load is on which vertebral body, it is subjected to the greatest stress.

Conclusion

We found that SVs did not always experience the highest stress. The most stressed vertebrae vary with the degree of curvature of the spine. Patients should be encouraged to avoid the same spinal curvature posture for a long time in life and work or to wear a spinal brace for protection after surgery, which can avoid long-term overload on a specific spine and disrupt its blood supply, resulting in more severe loss of spinal quality and increasing the possibility of fractures.

Finite element analysis of biomechanical effects of mineralized collagen modified bone cement on adjacent vertebral body after vertebroplasty

Objective: To investigate whether mineralized collagen modified polymethyl methacrylate (MC-PMMA) bone cement impacts the implanted vertebral body and adjacent segments and the feasibility of biomechanical properties compared with common bone cement in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCF). Methods: A healthy volunteer was selected to perform a three-dimensional reconstruction of the T11-L1 vertebral body to establish the corresponding finite element model of the spine, and the changes in the stress distribution of different types of cement were biomechanically analyzed in groups by applying quantitative loads. Results: The stress distribution of the T11-L1 vertebral body was similar between the two bone types of cement under various stress conditions. Conclusion: Mineralized collagen modified bone cement had the advantages of promoting bone regeneration, good biocompatibility, good transformability, and coupling, and had support strength not inferior to common PMMA bone cement, indicating it has good development prospects and potential.

A computational analysis of a novel therapeutic approach combining an advanced medicinal therapeutic device and a fracture fixation assembly for the treatment of osteoporotic fractures: Effects of physiological loading, interface conditions, and fracture

The occurrence of periprosthetic femoral fractures (PFF) has increased in people with osteoporosis due to decreased bone density, poor bone quality, and stress shielding from prosthetic implants. PFF treatment in the elderly is a genuine concern for orthopaedic surgeons as no effective solution currently exists. Therefore, the goal of this study was to determine whether the design of a novel advanced medicinal therapeutic device (AMTD) manufactured from a polymeric blend in combination with a fracture fixation plate in the femur is capable of withstanding physiological loads without failure during the bone regenerative process. This was achieved by developing a finite element (FE) model of the AMTD together with a fracture fixation assembly, and a femur with an implanted femoral stem. The response of both normal and osteoporotic bone was investigated by implementing their respective material properties in the model. Physiological loading simulating the peak load during standing, walking, and stair climbing was investigated. The results showed that the fixation assembly was the prime load bearing component for this configuration of devices. Within the fixation assembly, the bone screws were found to have the highest stresses in the fixation assembly for all the loading conditions. Whereas the stresses within the AMTD were significantly below the maximum yield strength of the device's polymeric blend material. Furthermore, this study also investigated the performance of different fixation assembly materials and found Ti-6Al-4V to be the optimal material choice from those included in this study.

Advances in materials-based therapeutic strategies against osteoporosis

Osteoporosis is caused by the disruption in homeostasis between bone formation and bone resorption. Conventional management of osteoporosis involves systematic drug administration and hormonal therapy. These treatment strategies have limited curative efficacy and multiple adverse effects. Biomaterials-based therapeutic strategies have recently emerged as promising alternatives for the treatment of osteoporosis. The present review summarizes the current status of biomaterials designed for managing osteoporosis. The advantages of biomaterials-based strategies over conventional systematic drug treatment are presented. Different anti-osteoporotic delivery systems are concisely addressed. These materials include injectable hydrogels and nanoparticles, as well as anti-osteoporotic bone tissue engineering materials. Fabrication techniques such as 3D printing, electrostatic spinning and artificial intelligence are appraised in the context of how the use of these adjunctive techniques may improve treatment efficacy. The limitations of existing biomaterials are critically analyzed, together with deliberation of the future directions in biomaterials-based therapies. The latter include discussion on the use of combination strategies to enhance therapeutic efficacy in the osteoporosis niche.

Effect of different fixation methods on biomechanical property of cervical vertebral body replacement and fusion

BACKGROUND

The main purpose of this study was to examine the effect of different fixation methods (anterior fixation, self-stabilizing fixation and anterior-posterior fixation) on biomechanical property of vertebral body replacement and fusion.

METHODS

Three finite element models of cervical vertebral body replacement and fusion were established. The implanted models included artificial vertebral body and fixation system, and the loads imposed on the models included 75 N compression load and 1 Nm moment load.

FINDINGS

For anterior-posterior fixation, the cervical load was mainly transmitted by the posterior pedicle screw and rod (more than 50%), and the stress shielding problem was the most significant than the self-stabilizing and anterior fixation. Self-stabilizing fixation was more helpful to the fusion of implant and vertebrae, but the higher risk of vertebral body collapse was worthy of attention if the cervical spine with osteoporosis. The stress of bone was mainly concentrated around the screw hole. The maximum stress (20.03 MPa) was lower than the yield stress of cortical bone and the possibility of fracture around the fixation device of cervical spine was low. The anterior fixation could meet the requirement of vertebral body replacement and fusion, and the addition of posterior pedicle screws and rods might obtain better treatment in cases of severe spine injury or osteoporosis.

INTERPRETATION

The findings of this study may provide guidance on clinical treatments for choosing more appropriate fixation methods for different patients.

Biomechanical comparison between unilateral and bilateral percutaneous vertebroplasty for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures: A finite element analysis

Background and objective: The osteoporotic vertebral compression fracture (OVCF) has an incidence of 7.8/1000 person-years at 55–65 years. At 75 years or older, the incidence increases to 19.6/1000 person-years in females and 5.2–9.3/1000 person-years in males. To solve this problem, percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) was developed in recent years and has been widely used in clinical practice to treat OVCF. Are the clinical effects of unilateral percutaneous vertebroplasty (UPVP) and bilateral percutaneous vertebroplasty (BPVP) the same? The purpose of this study was to compare biomechanical differences between UPVP and BPVP using finite element analysis.

Materials and methods: The heterogeneous assignment finite element (FE) model of T11-L1 was constructed and validated. A compression fracture of the vertebral body was performed at T12. UPVP and BPVP were simulated by the difference in the distribution of bone cement in T12. Stress distributions and maximum von Mises stresses of vertebrae and intervertebral discs were compared. The rate of change of maximum displacement between UPVP and BPVP was evaluated.

Results: There were no obvious high-stress concentration regions on the anterior and middle columns of the T12 vertebral body in BPVP. Compared with UPVP, the maximum stress on T11 in BPVP was lower under left/right lateral bending, and the maximum stress on L1 was lower under all loading conditions. For the T12-L1 intervertebral disc, the maximum stress of BPVP was less than that of UPVP. The maximum displacement of T12 after BPVP was less than that after UPVP under the six loading conditions.

Conclusion: BPVP could balance the stress of the vertebral body, reduce the maximum stress of the intervertebral disc, and offer advantages in terms of stability compared with UPVP. In summary, BPVP could reduce the incidence of postoperative complications and provide promising clinical effects for patients.

A finite element analysis on different bone cement forms and injection volumes injected into lumbar vertebral body in percutaneous kyphoplasty

Background

To investigate the stress changes between different bone cement forms and injection volumes in adjacent vertebrae after percutaneous kyphoplasty (PKP) by establishing a three-dimensional finite element model of osteoporosis.

Methods

A male healthy volunteer was selected. CT of scans L1 to L3 vertebrae were imported into Mimics 21.0 software.The vertebral model of osteoporosiswas established based on previous literature reference. The models were divided into three groups: unilateral, bilateral integration and bilateral separation groups, with each group injecting 2 ml, 4,ml and 6 ml of bone cement, respectively. In all models, a vertical compressive load of 500 N, anterior flexion/posterior extension, left/right bending, and left/right rotation were applied with a moment of 7.5 N/m, of which 85% was applied to the anterior mid-column and 15% to the posterior column. The stress changes between adjacent vertebrae under different conditions were calculated.

Results

After percutaneous kyphoplasty was applied to the L2 vertebral body, some differences can be found between the effects of different cement injection volumes and cement morphology on adjacent structures. There was no major difference between the groups when the bone cement injection volume was 2 ml. When the amount of bone cement injected was 4 ml, the bone cement morphology of the bilateral integration group (BIG) produced less stress between adjacent vertebral bodies. The minimum stress was 14.95 MPa in the L3 vertebral body in posterior extension. Whereas the stress levels on adjacent intervertebral structures, BIG shaped bone cement shows some superiority. In addition, the adjacent vertebrae and intervertebral structures are subjected to less stress during left and right rotation.

Conclusions

The present finite element study suggested that bilateral integration bone cement is a suitable form of cement injection, and when the injection volume is 4 ml, reduces stress on adjacent segments by approximately 15% while maintaining the stability of the injected vertebral body.

A digital twin for simulating the vertebroplasty procedure and its impact on mechanical stability of vertebra in cancer patients

We present the application of ReconGAN, introduced in a previous study, for simulating the vertebroplasty (VP) operation and its impact on the fracture response of a vertebral body. ReconGAN consists of a Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Network (DCGAN) and a finite element based shape optimization algorithm to virtually reconstruct the trabecular bone microstructure. The VP procedure involves injecting shear-thinning liquid bone cement through a needle in the trabecular region to reinforce a diseased or fractured vertebra. To simulate this treatment modality, computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is employed to predict the morphology of the injected cement within the bone microstructure. A power-law equation is utilized to characterize the non-Newtonian shear-thinning behavior of the polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) bone cement during injection simulations. The CFD model is coupled with the level-set method to simulate the motion of the interface separating bone cement and bone marrow. After predicting the cement morphology, a data co-registration algorithm is employed to transform the CFD model to a high-fidelity continuum damage mechanics (CDM) finite element model of the augmented vertebra for predicting the fracture response. A feasibility study is presented to demonstrate the ability of this CFD-CDM framework to investigate the effect of VP on the mechanical integrity of the vertebral body in a cancer patient with a lytic metastatic tumor.

A Three-Dimensional Cement Quantification Method for Decision Prediction of Vertebral Recompression after Vertebroplasty

Objective

Proposing parameters to quantify cement distribution and increasing accuracy for decision prediction of vertebroplasty postoperative complication.

Methods

Finite element analysis was used to biomechanically assess vertebral mechanics (n = 51) after percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) or kyphoplasty (PKP). The vertebral space was divided into 27 portions. The numbers of cement occupied portions and numbers of cement-endplate contact portions were defined as overall distribution number (oDN) and overall endplate contact number (oEP), respectively. And cement distribution was parametrized by oDN and oEP. The determination coefficients of vertebral mechanics and parameters (R 2) can validate the correlation of proposed parameters with vertebral mechanics.

Results

oDN and oEP were mainly correlated with failure load (R 2 = 0.729) and stiffness (R 2 = 0.684), respectively. oDN, oEP, failure load, and stiffness had obvious difference between the PVP group and the PKP group (P < 0.05). The regional endplate contact number in the front column is most correlated with vertebral stiffness (R 2 = 0.59) among all regional parameters. Cement volume and volume fraction are not dominant factors of vertebral augmentation, and they are not suitable for postoperative fracture risk prediction.

Conclusions

Proposed parameters with high correlation on vertebral mechanics are promising for clinical utility. The oDN and oEP can strongly affect augmented vertebral mechanics thus is suitable for postoperative fracture risk prediction. The parameters are beneficial for decision-making process of revision surgery necessity. Parametrized methods are also favorable for surgeon's preoperative planning. The methods can be inspirational for clinical image recognition development and auxiliary diagnosis.

Effects of Location and Volume of Intraosseous Cement on Adjacent Level of Osteoporotic Spine Undergoing Kyphoplasty: Finite Element Analysis

OBJECTIVE

Kyphoplasty (KP) is a surgery used to reduce pain and increase stability by injecting medical bone cement into broken vertebrae. The purpose of this study was to determine the ideal amount of cement and injection site by analyzing forces with the finite element method.

METHODS

We modeled the anatomical structure of the vertebra and injected the cement at T12. By increasing the amount of cement from 1 cc to 22 cc, stress applied to T11 and L1 cortical was calculated. In addition, stress applied to the adjacent KP level was calculated with different injection sites (medial, anterosuperior, posterosuperior, anteroinferior, and posteroinferior). After 5 cc cement was inserted, adjacent end plate stress was analyzed.

RESULTS

In this study, break point adjacent bone stress according to the capacity of cement was bimodal. Flexion/extension and lateral bending conditions showed similar break points (11.5-11.7 cc and 18.5-18.6 cc, respectively). When cement injection was changed, front under and back under had the highest stress values among various parts, whereas the center position showed the lowest stress value.

CONCLUSIONS

With increasing amount of bone cement, stress on the upper and lower end plates of the cemented segment increased significantly. Thus, increasing cement amount to be more than 11.5 cc has a potential risk of adjacent fracture. Centrally injected bone cement can lower the risk of adjacent fracture after percutaneous KP.

Association Between Bone Cement Augmentation and New Vertebral Fractures in Patients with Osteoporotic Vertebral Compression Fractures: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

PURPOSE

To investigate the association between bone cement augmentation and new vertebral fractures (VF) in patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs).

METHODS

A literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library was conducted from 1987 to December 31, 2020, to identify randomized controlled trials that compared bone cement augmentation with non-bone cement treatments in patients with OVCFs. The clinical incidence of new VF and the risk of new adjacent vertebral fractures (AVF) after treatment were calculated. The indexes of the risk ratio or odds ratio, and 95% confidence intervals were determined with RevMan 5.2 software.

RESULTS

A total of 13 randomized controlled trials involving 1949 participants were included in the final quantitative analysis. There was no significant association between bone cement augmentation and the clinical incidence of new VF during the 6-month and 12-month follow-ups or the whole follow-up period. However, there was a significantly lower clinical incidence of new VF in patients who received bone cement augmentation compared with non-bone cement treatments during 24 months or more of follow-up. Pooled data from the relevant trials demonstrated that the risk of new AVF in bone cement augmentation was significantly higher than that in non-bone cement treatments.

CONCLUSIONS

Although the use of bone cement augmentation in OVCFs significantly increased the risk of new AVF compared with non-bone cement treatments, it was not significantly associated with a higher clinical incidence of new VF.

Study on the Long Bone Failure Behaviors Under the Indenter Rigid-Contact by Experiment Analysis and Subject-Specific Simulation

The bending fracture behaviors of long bone have gained great attention due to the high bending fracture risk during sports events, traffic accidents, and falling incidents, etc. For evaluating bone bending behaviors, most of the previous studies used an indenter in three point bending experiments while the effect of its rigidity was never considered. In this work, using the porcine long bones, the three point bending tests were conducted to explore the bone fracture behaviors under a rigid indenter. In addition to collecting the force applied, the bone fracture dynamic process was recorded by high-speed photography, and the fracture surface profile in mesoscale was observed by the scanning electron microscope (SEM). Based on CT scanning of long bones, the cross section properties of test specimens were calculated by a homemade matlab script for correlating with their failure strengths. Also, a subject-specific finite element (FE) model was developed to identify the outcomes induced by a rigid indenter on simulation. Findings led to conclusions as follows: (1) The tension fracture came with fracture path deflection, which was caused by the bone indentation induced mesoscale crack-opening. Due to this damage before the whole bone fracture, a bone fracture moment correction was established to compensate experimental data. (2) The plastic indentation caused the force fluctuation as suggested by correlation analysis. (3) The bone failure moment correlated with the inertial moment of the bone cross section at the fracture location higher than the traditional cross section area. (4) In the subject-specific simulation, the indentation caused compression fracture under a much lower failure force. Removing the element erosion on the indenter-contacted area only during the validation was verified as a good option to solve this issue.

Bioactive poly (methyl methacrylate) bone cement for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures

Rationale: Poly (methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) bone cement is one of the most commonly used biomaterials for augmenting/stabilizing osteoporosis-induced vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs), such as percutaneous vertebroplasty (PVP) and balloon kyphoplasty (BKP). However, its clinical applications are limited by its poor performance in high compressive modulus and weak bonding to bone. To address these issues, a bioactive composite bone cement was developed for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures, in which mineralized collagen (MC) was incorporated into the PMMA bone cement (MC-PMMA). Methods: The in vitro properties of PMMA and MC-PMMA composite bone cement were determined, including setting time, compressive modulus, adherence, proliferation, and osteogenic differentiation of rat bone mesenchymal stem cells. The in vivo properties of both cements were evaluated in an animal study (36 osteoporotic New Zealand female rabbits divided equally between the two bone cement groups; PVP at L5) and a small-scale and short-term clinical study (12 patients in each of the two bone cement groups; follow-up: 2 years). Results: In terms of value for PMMA bone cement, the handling properties of MC-PMMA bone cement were not significantly different. However, both compressive strength and compressive modulus were found to be significantly lower. In the rabbit model study, at 8 and 12 weeks post-surgery, bone regeneration was more significant in MC-PMMA bone cement (cortical bone thickness, osteoblast area, new bone area, and bone ingrowth %; each significantly higher). In the clinical study, at a follow-up of 2 years, both the Visual Analogue Score and Oswestry Disability Index were significantly reduced when MC-PMMA cement was used. Conclusions: MC-PMMA bone cement demonstrated good adaptive mechanical properties and biocompatibility and may be a promising alternative to commercial PMMA bone cements for the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral fractures in clinical settings. While the present results for MC-PMMA bone cement are encouraging, further study of this cement is needed to explore its viability as an ideal alternative for use in PVP and BKP.

Influence of cement-augmented pedicle screw instrumentation in an osteoporotic lumbosacral spine over the adjacent segments: a 3D finite element study

Abstract

Purpose

To compare the effect of conventional pedicle screw (CPS) and cement-augmented pedicle screw instrumentation (CAPSI) on adjacent segment degeneration (ASD).

Methods

A normal male volunteer without a history of spinal disease was selected, lumbar CT data was collected, an intact L3-S1 three-dimensional finite element model was created by software including Mimics, Geomagic, and SolidWorks, and the fixation methods were performed accordingly. A common pedicle screw model and a cement-augmented pedicle screw model of L4–L5 with fusion and internal fixation were constructed. With ANSYS Workbench 17.0, a 500 N load was applied to the upper surface of L3 to simulate the weight of a human body, and a 7.5 N m moment was applied at the neutral point to simulate flexion, extension, left/right bending, left/right rotation of the spine. The peak von Mises stress of intervertebral disc and the range of motion (ROM) on the adjacent segments (L3–4 and L5–S1) were compared.

Results

The validity of the intact model shows that the ROM of the model is similar to that of a cadaveric study. Compared with the intact model, CPS model and CAPSI model in all motion patterns increased the ROM of adjacent segments. The intervertebral disc stress and the ROM of adjacent segments were found to be higher in the CAPSI model than in the CPS model, especially in L3–4.

Conclusion

In general, the biomechanical analysis of an osteoporotic lumbar spine showed that both CPS and CAPSI can increase the ROM and disc stresses of osteoporotic lumbar models, and compared with CPS, CAPSI is more likely to increase the potential risk of adjacent segment degeneration.

Poly(methyl methacrylate) bone cement composited with mineralized collagen for osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures in extremely old patients

To examine the clinical effects of a new bone cement composed of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) and mineralized collagen (MC) compared with pure PMMA bone cement in treating osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures (OVCFs) in patients aged over 80. In all, 32 cases using pure PMMA bone cement and 31 cases using MC-modified PMMA (MC-PMMA) bone cement for OVCFs between June 2014 and March 2016 were screened as PMMA group and MC-PMMA group, respectively, with an average age of over 80. The operation duration, intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, oswestry disability index (ODI), visual analogue scale (VAS), anterior vertebral height (AVH), intermediate vertebral height (IVH) and posterior vertebral height (PVH) of injured vertebrae, vertebral computed tomography value, re-fracture rate of adjacent vertebrae, correction rate of spinal kyphotic angle and wedge-shaped vertebra angle and surgical complications were compared between the two groups. In the early post-operative period, the VAS, ODI, AVH and IVH in MC-PMMA group were comparable to those in the traditional PMMA group. Moreover, the MC-PMMA group showed better effects compared with the PMMA group 12 months after surgery. Thus, this new bone cement has superior clinic effects in the long term.