Cancellous bone stresses surrounding the femoral component of a hip prosthesis: an elastic-plastic finite element analysis

Abstract

The cancellous bone stresses surrounding the femoral component of total hip replacement were investigated using the finite element method. Four versions of a certain femoral hip prosthesis (the Freeman, Corin Medical), cemented, HA coated, press-fit, and press-fit with ridges were analysed. Each model was subjected to two separate load cases with the cancellous bone modelled as an elastic perfectly plastic material. The effect of bone quality was investigated by varying the cancellous bone stiffness. The resulting cancellous bone stress distributions were compared to that of the intact femur. The results were also compared to clinical subsidence data (published elsewhere) for the Freeman femoral prosthesis to determine if the initial cancellous bone stress distribution could be used to predict the migration of the various versions of this prosthesis. The results showed that the press-fit designs of prosthesis generated substantially higher cancellous bone stresses than the cemented and HA coated designs, and that these stresses were up to 6.5 times higher than found in the intact femur. For all forms of fixation the cancellous bone stress distribution was found to be insensitive to changes in the trabecular bone stiffness: thus poor quality cancellous bone is more likely to promote ‘plastic’ deformation, and therefore subsidence of the prosthesis. Comparison with the clinical migration data showed a good correlation and revealed that it may be possible to use the calculated initial cencellous bone stresses to predict the migration of the implant, and hence the probability of early and mid-term aseptic loosening. This is the first time, to the authors' knowledge, that the ‘plastic’ deformation of cancellous bone has been reported as a contributing factor to the subsidence and failure of proximal femoral prostheses.