Patient-Specific Modeling in Tomorrow's Medicine

Abstract

Valuable simulations aimed at diagnosis and optimal treatment in clinical orthopedic practice should demonstrate that their results are verified, validated by experimental observations and obtained on a patient-specific level in a short time-scale. Such verified and validated simulations, based on CT-scans, were recently introduced using high-order finite element methods (p-FEMs), demonstrating an unprecedented prediction capability. We describe herein the methods used for creating p-FEM models of patient-specific femurs (including assignment of inhomogeneous material properties) and the large set of in-vitro experiments used to assess the validity of the simulation results. We thereafter extend the simulation capabilities for the analysis of bone fixations by metallic inserts, demonstrating again the high quality results. Such reliable patient-specific simulations are in an advanced stage to be used on a daily basis in clinical practice.