Relationship between the mineral content of human trabecular bone and selected parameters determined from fatigue test at stepwise-increasing amplitude.

PURPOSE The study aimed to investigate a relationship between the mineral content of human trabecular bone and parameters determined from compression fatigue tests at stepwise-increasing amplitude. METHODS Mineral content of trabecular bone was estimated comparing density and bone mineral density values. The relationship between the ash density, bone mineral density and factors obtained from fatigue test: fatigue life, cumulative elastic energy and cumulative energy of dissipation was determined. RESULTS The results from the measurements of ash density and bone mineral density show good correlation with the fatigue test results. The relationship was estimated based on the correlation coefficient R within 0.74-0.79 for the particular pairs of factors. CONCLUSIONS The study shows that the ash density and the bone mineral density are good predictors to estimate the fatigue life of trabecular bone. The study also validates the applicability of the tests at stepwise-increasing amplitude in determining the mechanical properties of trabecular bone.