Bone fracture healing within a continuum bone remodelling framework.
Bone fracture healing is a complex process which is still under research. Computer-aided patient-specific prediction of bone development, fracture risk, prevention and treatment approaches promises a significant milestone in clinical practice. With this long-term goal in mind, a novel model is presented and examined in this work in the context of continuum bone remodelling. Therein, a clear distinction is made between external mechanical stimulation and the biological healing process of an injured bone tissue. The model is implemented within a finite element framework and investigated for the example of a fractured proximal femur head. The results show promising perspectives for further application. Besides, the model offers the possibility of easily integrating other factors like age-dependency and the availability of nutrition. For the future, further studies with large clinical datasets are essential for validation.
['Schmidt|Ina|I|', 'Albert|Jacob|J|', 'Ritthaler|Marina|M|', 'Papastavrou|Areti|A|0000-0002-4541-6208', 'Steinmann|Paul|P|']
bone fracture healing Bone remodelling femur head finite element method