The change of bone biomechanical properties is important for the evaluation of treatment efficacy in various metabolic diseases such as male hypogonadism that affects primarily trabecular bone and results in impaired mechanical competence secondary to gonadal steroid depletion.
Analysis of trabecular bone images from the in vivo micro magnetic resonance imaging (µMRI), virtual bone biopsy (VBB), has been shown to provide detailed insight into the three-dimensional trabecular network topology and scale at the distal tibia. Large-scale finite element (FE) models of trabecular bone have been developed in mapping each image voxel into an element. These voxel-based, specimen-specific FE models of trabecular bone have improved tremendously the fundamental understanding of trabecular bone mechanics. As shown in our collaborative project with the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, in vivo µ-MRI data from trabecular bone can be used as input into large-scale FE models from which the implications of the disease on the bone's mechanical competence can be assessed.
Related Publications
- ML Chan, XS Liu, B Vascillic, FW Wehrli, M Benito, PJ Snyder, X Ed Guo. Lower Stiffness Detected in Finite Element Analysis of In Vivo Virtual Bone Biopsy from Hypogonadal Male Patients, 2005 ASME Summer Bioengineering Conference.
- ML Chan, XS Liu, B Vascillic, FW Wehrli, M Benito, PJ Snyder, X Ed Guo, Mechanical and Three-Dimensional Morphological Changes in Tibial Trabecular Bone of Hypogonadal Patients, Chicago, Illinois, March 19-22, 2006