MICROMECHANICS APPLIED TO MACRO-MODEL OF A SPINAL SEGMENT

Abstract eng:
Spinal segments, with the complexity of spinal activities, call for a better understanding of 3Dbiomechanical behaviour to improve the design of spinal implants. The biomechanics of endplates is one of the many areas that are still not fully understood. There are number of factors that might play a role in the biomechanical response of the endplates when the load is transferred from the superior vertebra via endplate and adjacent intervertebral disc to the inferior verterbra. Studies using finite element (FE) models usually present a simplified idealistic isotropic continuum as a bone tissue and cartilage model. This simplification might hinder the real stress-strain distribution at the region of prime interest – the endplate. Multiscale FEM provides the tool to overcome difficulties in simulation of macro model behaviour while considering the micromechanics of bone tissue. The specific patient model, evaluated from CT scans and applied to the existing FE model, gave promising results with the highest stress of 3.1 MPa at the central part of endplate while the model with isotropic continuum presented the highest stress of 1.3 MPa at the lateral side of annulus fibrosus. Results obtained from the patient specific model correspond to known clinical observations of the endplate damage.

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