| Autor: |
Trivedi Z; Institute for Modelling and Simulation of Biomechanical Systems, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 5a, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.; Institute of Structural Mechanics and Dynamics in Aerospace Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 27, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany., Wychowaniec JK; AO Research Institute Davos, Clavadelerstrasse 8, 7270 Davos, Switzerland., Gehweiler D; AO Research Institute Davos, Clavadelerstrasse 8, 7270 Davos, Switzerland., Sprecher CM; AO Research Institute Davos, Clavadelerstrasse 8, 7270 Davos, Switzerland., Boger A; Ansbach University of Applied Sciences, Residenzstraße 8, 91522 Ansbach, Germany., Gueorguiev B; AO Research Institute Davos, Clavadelerstrasse 8, 7270 Davos, Switzerland., D'Este M; AO Research Institute Davos, Clavadelerstrasse 8, 7270 Davos, Switzerland., Ricken T; Institute of Structural Mechanics and Dynamics in Aerospace Engineering, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 27, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany., Röhrle O; Institute for Modelling and Simulation of Biomechanical Systems, University of Stuttgart, Pfaffenwaldring 5a, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany.; Stuttgart Center for Simulation Science (SC SimTech), Pfaffenwaldring 5a, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany. |
| Abstrakt: |
Vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive surgical procedure used to treat vertebral fractures, which conventionally involves injecting poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) bone cement into the fractured vertebra. A common risk associated with vertebroplasty is cement leaking out of the vertebra during the injection, which may occur due to a lack of understanding of the complex flow behavior. Therefore, experiments to quantify the cement's flow properties are necessary for understanding and proper handling of the bone cement. In this study, we aimed to characterize the behavior of PMMA bone cement in its curing stages to obtain parameters that govern the flow behavior during injection. We used rotational and oscillatory rheometry for our measurements, as well as a custom-made injector setup that replicated a typical vertebroplasty setting. Our results showed that the complex viscoelastic behavior of bone cement is significantly affected by deformations and temperature. We found that the results from rotational tests, often used for characterizing the bone cement, are susceptible to measurement artifacts caused by wall slip and "ridge"-like formations in the test sample. We also found the Cox-Merz rule to be conditionally valid, which affects the use of oscillatory tests to obtain the shear-thinning characteristics of bone cement. Our findings identify important differences in the measured flow behavior of PMMA bone cement when assessed by different rheological methods, an understanding that is crucial for its risk-free usage in downstream medical applications. |
