Development of a Novel Measure of Three-dimensional Bone Connectivity in a Mouse Tibia Fracture Model: Characterizing Torsional Strength and Stiffness Through Failure Surface Analysis

• Main Author: Wright, David
• Other Authors: Whyne, Cari
• Language: en_ca
• Published: 2011
• Subjects: fracture healing; strength; 0541
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/31642

The high incidence of long bone fractures and appreciable rate of delayed and non-union (5-10%) necessitates the development of non-invasive tools to monitor healing progression. The objective of this study was to develop a novel µCT-based measure of three-dimensional bone connectivity and to compare its ability to assess fracture callus mechanical stability to previously described measures. Bone connectivity parameters local to the failure surface were found to significantly correlate with mechanical stability, and proved superior to previously developed measures of torsional rigidity. Visualization of the failure surfaces demonstrated a consistent failure pattern indicative of the applied torsional loading, however the locations of the failure surfaces showed varying levels of fracture callus involvement. The results of this proof of concept work indicate the potential utility of bone connectivity analysis in non-invasive assessment of fracture callus stability.