Fracture of the human femoral neck: effect of density of the cancellous core.
Thirty three fresh femora from 18 cadavera were loaded to fracture at a deformation rate of 5 mm/min to study the effect of density of the cancellous core in fracture initiation of the femoral neck. The neck of the femur was modelled as a composite beam subjected to bending and the ultimate strength of the bone at the superior aspect of the neck was calculated from the model, which was fed by the mechanical tests and geometry measurements. The area porosity of the cancellous core was introduced into the beam model after measuring the apparent density of dry fat-free bone for each specimen. The results showed a strong dependence between the ultimate strength obtained and the cancellous bone density, the latter previously measured for each specimen by the non-invasive Compton scattering technique. Area porosity of the femoral neck was found to have little effect on the results obtained, permitting the use of an average value for this parameter in calculating the ultimate strength of the neck of the femur.
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D005260:Female; D005265:Femoral Neck Fractures / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005272:Femur Neck / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008954:Models, Biological