Relationship between Elastic Module and Porous Structure of Cancellous Bone

Abstract

Trabecular bone, widely presented in the ends of long bones and chine, is a typically porous structure which provides a multifunction such as light weight, undertaking load, impact energy buffer and hosting marrow cells. The structure of trabecular is a dominant factor for the strength of cancellous bone. The prediction of the trabecular bone’s mechanical properties depending on the trabecular structure is very useful for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. The object of this study is to establish a relationship between the mechanical properties and topological, morphological parameters of trabecular bone. The 50 3-D data of cancellous bone are selected from the CT images of three caput femurs and disposed in BoneJ, through which the BV/TV, SMI and genus parameters of each samples are obtained. The deformation behaviors of trabecular bone are simulated in ABAQUS through uniaxial compression on the 3-D model derived from stack images. Then linear-regression analyses are conducted on the BV/TV, genus, SMI and apparent Young’s modulus, resulting a high correlation (R^2=0.84) between the Young’s modulus and the hybrid parameter derived from SMI and normalized genus, corresponding to morphological and topological parameter of the samples respectively. The result indicates that it’s promising to establish the relationship between mechanical properties of trabecular bone and their topological and morphological parameters.