Trabecular Level Analysis of Bone Cement Augmentation: A Comparative Experimental and Finite Element Study

The representation of cement–augmented bone in finite element (FE) models of vertebrae following vertebroplasty remains a challenge, and the methods of the model validation are limited. The aim of this study was to create specimen-specific FE models of cement–augmented synthetic bone at the microscopic level, and to develop a new methodology to validate these models. An open cell polyurethane foam was used reduce drying effects and because of its similar structure to osteoporotic trabecular bone. Cylindrical specimens of the foam were augmented with PMMA cement. Each specimen was loaded to three levels of compression inside a micro-computed tomography (μCT) scanner and imaged both before compression and in each of the loaded states. Micro-FE models were generated from the unloaded μCT images and displacements applied to match measurements taken from the images. A morphological comparison between the FE-predicted trabecular deformations and the corresponding experimental measurements was developed to validate the accuracy of the FE model. The predicted deformation was found to be accurate (less than 12% error) in the elastic region. This method can now be used to evaluate real bone and different types of bone cements for different clinical situations.