Conduction Analysis of Cement Interface Temperature in Total Knee Arthroplasty

Key words: acrylic bone cement; heat conduction; bone necrosis; total knee arthroplasty We applied an axisymmetric model of the tibia to a finite element method and analyzed the heat conduction from bone cement in total knee arthroplasty using numerical simulation with the finite element analysis software, ABACUS. We hypothesized the thermal necrotic map of bone. Moreover, we suggested a method for preventing thermal necrosis of bone using this simulation. We adopted an initial temperature of 32oC and a cement layer of 3mm to our simulation and analyzed heat conduction. The maximum temperature into the cement layer was 65oC and 56oC at the bone-cement interface 200 sec after the start of heat generation. Bone necrosis was observed approximately 2mm from the bone-cement interface. To thin the cement layer, the maximum temperature and bone necrotic area reduced. At a cement layer of less than 1mm no bone necrotic area was observed. To lower the initial temperature of the bone surface, the maximum temperature and bone necrotic area was also reduced. At an initial temperature of less than 28oC we did not find any bone necrosis. Even if we hypothesized pouring cold water around the prosthesis, the maximum temperature di