Finite element analysis of scaffold for large defect in femur bone

Abstract

Treatment of segmental bone defects, especially in load bearing areas caused by fracture; tumour or infection is a complex procedure in orthopaedic surgery. Tissue Engineering (TE) has influenced the healing of tissues with an artificial scaffold. In bone tissue engineering, scaffold should provide mechanical stability, accommodate cells and guide for proliferation of cells in all directions. Due to the spatial variation in the micro-architectural parameters of bone such as pore size, pore shape and porosity, the design of scaffold to mimic the native bone is yet to emerge. The objective of this work is to design and analysis of scaffold for defect in femur bone diaphysis region and to study the stress-strain relationship between bone and scaffold under different loading conditions. The scaffolds were designed using unit block for segmental defect of femur bone diaphysis region. The internal architecture of each unit block was controlled by pore size and beam thickness (PS: BT) ratio. To mimic the native bone properties the scaffold was designed with open cellular structure with porosity of range 5% to 60%. The structural behaviour of each scaffold was performed using finite element method. The scaffold and intact bone segment was analysed using ANSYS. The maximum stress and displacement of scaffold were studied with biomaterial of hydroxyapatite. The results are comparable with literature and confirm that designed unit block may suitable for act as scaffold for tissue regeneration with scaffold can avoid the stress shielding effect between scaffold and living tissue.