Tian-Xia Qiu

Finite element analysis of cervical spinal instability under physiologic loading.

The definition of cervical spinal instability has been a subject of considerable debate and has not been clearly established. Stability of the motion segment is provided by ligaments, facet joints, and disc, which restrict range of movement. Moreover, permanent damage to one of the stabilizing structures alters the roles of the other two. Although many in vitro studies have been conducted to investigate cervical injuries, to date there are only limited finite element investigations reported in the literature on the biomechanical response of the cervical spine in these respects. A comprehensive, geometric, nonlinear finite element model of the lower cervical spine has been successfully developed and validated under compression, anterior–posterior shear, and sagittal moments. Injury studies were done by varying each spinal component independently from the validated model. Seven analyses were conducted for each injury simulation (model without ligaments, model without facets, model without facets and ligaments, and model without disc nucleus). Results indicate that the role of the ligaments in resisting anterior and posterior shear and flexion and axial rotation moments is important. Under other physiologic loading (anterior–posterior shear, flexion–extension, lateral bending, and axial rotation), the disc nucleus is responsible for the initial stiffness of the cervical spine. The results also highlight the importance of facets in resisting compression at higher loads, anterior shear, extension, lateral bending, and torsion. The results provide new insight through injury simulation into the role of the various spinal components in providing cervical spinal stability. These findings seem to correlate well with experimental results as well as with common clinical experience.

Finite element modeling of a 3D coupled foot–boot model

Increasingly, musculoskeletal models of the human body are used as powerful tools to study biological structures. The lower limb, and in particular the foot, is of interest because it is the primary physical interaction between the body and the environment during locomotion. The goal of this paper is to adopt the finite element (FE) modeling and analysis approaches to create a state-of-the-art 3D coupled foot-boot model for future studies on biomechanical investigation of stress injury mechanism, foot wear design and parachute landing fall simulation. In the modeling process, the foot-ankle model with lower leg was developed based on Computed Tomography (CT) images using ScanIP, Surfacer and ANSYS. Then, the boot was represented by assembling the FE models of upper, insole, midsole and outsole built based on the FE model of the foot-ankle, and finally the coupled foot-boot model was generated by putting together the models of the lower limb and boot. In this study, the FE model of foot and ankle was validated during balance standing. There was a good agreement in the overall patterns of predicted and measured plantar pressure distribution published in literature. The coupled foot-boot model will be fully validated in the subsequent works under both static and dynamic loading conditions for further studies on injuries investigation in military and sports, foot wear design and characteristics of parachute landing impact in military.

Finite-element analysis for lumbar interbody fusion under axial loading

A parametric study was conducted to evaluate axial stiffness of the interbody fusion, compressive stress, and bulging in the endplate due to changes in the spacer position with/without fusion bone using an anatomically accurate and validated L2-L3 finite-element model exercised under physiological axial compression. The results show that the spacer plays an important role in initial stability for fusion, and high compressive force is predicted at the ventral endplate for the models with the spacer and fusion bone together. By varying the positioning of the spacer anteriorly along anteroposterior axis, no significant change in terms of axial stiffness, compressive stress, and bulging of the endplate are predicted for the implant model. The findings suggest that varying the spacer position in surgical situations does not affect the mechanical behavior of the lumbar spine after interbody fusion.

Effects of cervical cages on load distribution of cancellous core: a finite element analysis.

Methods: The study was 1 designed to analyze the load distribution of the cancellous core after implantation of vertical ring cages made of titanium, cortical bone, and tantalum using the finite element (FE) method. The intact FE model of C5–C6 motion segment was validated with experimental results. Results: The percentage of load distribution in cancellous core dropped by about one-third of the level for the intact model after the cage implantation. The difference among cages made of different materials (or different stiffnesses) was not very obvious. Conclusions: These results implied that the influence of the cage on the load transfer in the cancellous core is greatly related to the cage’s dimensions and position within the intervertebral space. The dimension and position of the cage that least disturb the load distribution in cancellous core could be criteria in cage development.

Validation of T10-T11 finite element model and determination of instantaneous axes of rotations in three anatomical planes.

Study Design. A finite element (FE) model of thoracic spine (T10-T11) was constructed and used to determine instantaneous axes of rotation (IARs). Objectives. To characterize the locations and loci of IARs in three anatomic planes. Summary of Background Data. The center of rotation is a part of a precise method of documenting the kinematics of a spinal segment for spinal stability and deformity assessments and for implant devices study. There is little information about loci of IARs in thoracic spine. Methods. A FE model of thoracic spine (T10-T11) was developed and validated against published data. The validated model was then used to determine the locations and loci of IARs in three anatomic planes. Results. Within the validated range, The IARs locations and loci were found to vary with the applied pure moments. Under flexion and extension pure moments, the loci of IARs were tracked anterosuperiorly for flexion and posteroinferiorly for extension with rotation between the superior endplate and the geometrical center of the inferior vertebra T11. Under left and right lateral bending pure moments, the loci were detected to diverge latero-inferiorly from the mid-height of the intervertebral disc, then converge medio-inferiorly toward the geometrical center of the inferior vertebra T11. For axial rotation, the IARs were located between anterior nucleus and anulus and found to diverge in opposite direction latero-posteriorly with increasing left and right axial torque. Conclusions. The results of IARs would provide further understanding to the kinematics and biomechanical responses of the human thoracic spine, which is important for the diagnosis of disc degeneration and implant study.

Finite element study on the amount of injection cement during the pedicle screw augmentation.

Study Design: A finite element analysis of the screw pullout procedure for the osteoporotic cancellous bone using screw-bone unit model without cortical layer. Objective: The objective is to determine the region of effect (RoE) during the screw pullout procedure and predict the proper amount of injection cement (AIC) in screw augmentation. Summary of Background Data: For the osteoporotic spine, the AIC is a critical factor for the augmentation screw performance and leakage risk. There are few studies on the proper AIC in literature. Methods: Three finite element models were established, 2 screw-foam models were used for validation study, and 1 screw-bone model was used for investigation of RoE and AIC. The simulations of screw pullout were conducted. A velocity loading of 0.01 mm/s with a maximum displacement of 2.7 mm was applied on the screw. For the validation, the screw-foam models with 2 different densities were used for comparison of pullout force with those published experimental data. After validation, the screw-bone model was used to investigate the RoE and predict the proper AIC during screw augmentation in spine surgery. Results: In validation, the predicted pullout strengths were 2028.8 N for high-density foam model and 607 N for low-density foam model, respectively. They were in good agreement with those of the published experiment. In the screw-bone model, the simulations demonstrated that the RoE changed with the displacement of screw and reached the maximum when the displacement of screw was 1.8 mm. Similar trend was found for the AIC with the displacement. The proper AIC was 2.6 mL when the displacement of screw was 1.8 mm in this study. Conclusions: The RoE and proper AIC for augmentation were evaluated in the osteoporotic spine. This information could provide practical reference for screw augmentation in spinal decompression and instrumentation in the spine surgery.

Effect of bilateral facetectomy of thoracolumbar spine T11–L1 on spinal stability

Spinal stenosis can be found in any part of the spine, though it is most commonly located on the lumbar and cervical areas. It has been documented in the literature that bilateral facetectomy in a lumbar motion segment to increase the space induces an increase in flexibility at the level at which the surgery was performed. However, the result of bilateral facetectomy on the stability of the thoracolumbar spine has not been studied. A nonlinear three-dimensional finite element (FE) model of thoracolumbar T11–L1 was built to explore the influence of bilateral facetectomy. The FE model of T11–L1 was validated against published experimental results under various physiological loadings. The FE model with bilateral facetectomy was evaluated under flexion, extension, lateral bending and axial rotation to determine alterations in kinematics. Results show that bilateral facetectomy causes increase in motion, considerable increase in axial rotation and least increase in lateral bending. Removal of facets did not result in significant change in the sagittal motion in flexion and extension.

Prediction of Biomechanical Characteristics of Intact and Injured Lower Thoracic Spine Segment under Different Loads

In this study, the biomechanical roles of disc nucleus and ligaments of human lower thoracic spine (T10–T12) under different loads were investigated using finite element (FE) method. The T10–T12 FE model was developed and validated against the published results. The FE model was then modified accordingly to simulate the injured conditions of nucleus, ligaments and facets and loaded under different configurations to analyze the segmental gross responses and the stress distribution around the annulus circumference. The high first-principal stress of annulus at the posterolateral region has an important role on the disc annuluss tear and a flexion moment causes a high first-principal stress at posterolateral region, despite of the existence of ligaments. The study also shows that decompression in intervertebral discs can reduce the dilatation of annulus tears by 18% around the posterolateral regions of disc annulus. The disc nucleus and the posterior ligaments have important roles in resisting compression and flexion loads, respectively. The investigations in this paper not only supplement experimental research but are also helpful in the understandings of biomechanics of lower thoracic spine.

Determination of Load Transmission and Contact Force at Facet Joints of L2-L3 Motion Segment using FE Method

In the human spine, it is well known that facet joints play a significant role in load transmission and providing stability. It has also been hypothesized to be one of most probable sources of low back pain. Experimental determination of the load-bearing role of lumbar intervertebral joints, such as the facets joints, under axial compression has not been a straightforward task. In this study, the role of the facets in load transmission through a L2–L3 motion segment under axial compression is investigated using a L2–L3 finite element (FE) model, incorporated with an accurate three-dimensional geometry of facet joints with the inclusion of surface-to-surface continuum contact representation. The effects of osteoarthritis on facet force and biomechanical behaviors are also investigated by assuming friction at the facet joints. The study shows that the facet joints resisted 8% more in load for joints with osteoarthritics as compared with the normal joints. High percentage increase in contact facet force was also predicted for joint with osteoarthritics deformity. The use of the analytical FE model provided yet another efficient alternative for predicting the load transmission and contact force for degenerative joints, so as to provide a better understanding of the biomechanics of the spine as well as the pathophysiology of the various spinal disorders and degenerative conditions.

Finite Element Study of the Mechanical Response in Spinal Cord during the Thoracolumbar Burst Fracture

Background The mechanical response of the spinal cord during burst fracture was seldom quantitatively addressed and only few studies look into the internal strain of the white and grey matters within the spinal cord during thoracolumbar burst fracture (TLBF). The aim of the study is to investigate the mechanical response of the spinal cord during TLBF and correlate the percent canal compromise (PCC) with the strain in the spinal cord. Methodology/Principal Findings A three-dimensional (3D) finite element (FE) model of human T12-L1 spinal cord with visco-elastic property was generated based on the transverse sections images of spinal cord, and the model was validated against published literatures under static uniaxial tension and compression. With the validated model, a TLBF simulation was performed to compute the mechanical strain in the spinal cord with the PCC. Linear regressions between PCC and strain in the spinal cord show that at the initial stage, with the PCC at 20%, and 45%, the corresponding mechanical strains in ventral grey, dorsal grey, ventral white, dorsal white matters were 0.06, 0.04, 0.12, 0.06, and increased to 0.14, 0.12, 0.23, and 0.13, respectively. At the recoiled stage, when the PCC was decreased from 45% to 20%, the corresponding strains were reduced to 0.03, 0.02, 0.04 and 0.03. The strain was correlated well with PCC. Conclusions/Significance The simulation shows that the strain in the spinal cord correlated well with the PCC, and the mechanical strains in the ventral regions are higher than those in the dorsal regions of spinal cord tissue during burst fracture, suggesting that the ventral regions of the spinal cord may susceptible to injury than the dorsal regions.