EVALUATION OF A BONE REINFORCEMENT TECHNIQUE USING FINITE ELEMENT ANALYSIS

OBJECTIVES: To compare the results of a simulated fall on the greater trochanter in the proximal portion of a synthetic femur before and after femoral reinforcement with tricalcium phosphate bone cement (TP) and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA), using finite element analysis (FEA). METHODS: Using two synthetic proximal femurs, a FEA simulating a fall on the greater trochanter was performed, using the Bi-directional Evolutionary Structural Optimization (BESO) program. For this analysis, the femurs were filled with TP and PMMA after perforations were created in the trochanteric region and neck. The results were compared with the strength values obtained from testing the control specimen, a synthetic bone without reinforcement. RESULTS: FEA showed a value of 600 N prior to reinforcement. After cementing with PMMA, the load increased by 57.5% (945 N), and by 53% (920 N) after cementing with TP. CONCLUSION: Synthetic femurs gained resistance to fracture-causing forces in a simulated fall on the trochanter after bone reinforcement with PMMA and TP. Level of Evidence III; Experimental study.