Curved Beam Computed Tomography based Structural Rigidity Analysis of Bones with Simulated Lytic Defect: A Comparative Study with Finite Element Analysis

In this paper, a CT based structural rigidity analysis (CTRA) method that incorporates bone intrinsic local curvature is introduced to assess the compressive failure load of human femur with simulated lytic defects. The proposed CTRA is based on a three dimensional curved beam theory to obtain critical stresses within the human femur model. To test the proposed method, ten human cadaveric femurs with and without simulated defects were mechanically tested under axial compression to failure. Quantitative computed tomography images were acquired from the samples, and CTRA and finite element analysis were performed to obtain the failure load as well as rigidities in both straight and curved cross sections. Experimental results were compared to the results obtained from FEA and CTRA. The failure loads predicated by curved beam CTRA and FEA are in agreement with experimental results. The results also show that the proposed method is an efficient and reliable method to find both the location and magnitude of failure load. Moreover, the results show that the proposed curved CTRA outperforms the regular straight beam CTRA, which ignores the bone intrinsic curvature and can be used as a useful tool in clinical practices.