Biomechanical properties of facial cartilage grafts

Abstract

The cartilage framework of the nose plays an important role in the mechanical support of shape and airway patency. Articular cartilage is a weight-bearing and stress-tolerant tissue capable of sustaining high-impact loads with prolonged duty cycles, while facial cartilage serves primarily as structural support for the airway and does not undergo repeated high stress and strain deformations, but responds to small static loads which act over prolonged time frames. The authors discuss the triphasic theory as the most comprehensive model for cartilage mechanical behavior, mechanical properties of native facial cartilage and autologous grafts, and estimation of threshold mechanical stability