Biomechanical analysis on the effect of bone graft of the wrist after arthroplasty

Abstract

Instability is one of the symptoms associated with Rheumatoid Arthritis of the wrist joint. The instability which is caused by weakened ligaments as well as worn cartilages makes the carpal bones to move freely, causing a painful condition. Wrist arthroplasty is one of the treatments for severe cases of Rheumatoid Arthritis of the wrist joint. This project involved biomechanical analysis of wrist arthroplasty with and without bone graft in terms of its ability to provide carpal stability for replacement of the joint severely affected with Rheumatoid Arthritis. The clinical symptoms of the skeletal disease such as the pathological changes of the bone, cartilage, ligaments, tendon as well as the load transfer were used to accurately simulate the wrist joint affected with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Load simulating the gripping action of the joint was applied to the models. Results showed that the fixation of the wrist arthroplasty associated with bone graft had less displacement with sufficient amount of stresses compared to fixation without bone graft. It can be concluded that fixation of the wrist arthroplasty specifically at the carpal component could be enhanced using bone graft. © 2011 Springer-Verlag.