COMPUTATIONAL SIMULATION OF CANCELLOUS BONE REMODELING USING DIGITAL IMAGE-BASED MODEL

Abstract. A computational simulation method for trabecular surface remodeling in cancellous bone was proposed using a digital image-based voxel finite element model. For cancellous bone with complicated trabecular architecture, digital image-based model is useful both for finite element modeling of the structure and for simulating morphological changes in the trabecular architecture due to remodeling. Trabecular surface remodeling was simulated based on a uniform stress hypothesis, that is, to attain uniform stress in the trabeculae, resorption and formation were modeled by removal and addition of the voxel finite elements on the trabecular surface. A remodeling simulation of a cancellous bone cube under compressive loading was conducted with a digital image-based model constructed from µCT data of the cancellous region in a distal canine femur. The results of the simulation demonstrate that the trabeculae change their morphology to functionally adapt to the applied load as a load-bearing structure, and the changes in the structural indices of cancellous bone qualitatively correspond with the experimental results, demonstrating the potential of the proposed method to predict the functional adaptation of cancellous bone