title: Biomechanical effects of cranioplasty for defects using autogenous calvarial bone.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Harvesting autogenous calvarial bone grafts can potentially weaken the donor site and make it more susceptible to trauma. Conversely, restoring the integrity of the cranial vault structure can result in better dissipation of traumatic energy. This study proposes to mathematically model traumatic situations to evaluate the effect of cranioplasty on biomechanical properties of the craniofacial skeleton.
  
  
  METHODS
  Preoperative and 6-month postoperative computed tomography-generated DICOM data were used to extract a tetrahedral volumetric representation of the craniofacial skeleton. These data were then used in finite element solver-simulating traumatic events.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Deformational stresses accumulate around defect edges and can serve as seed points for calvarial fractures at much lower energy levels in the preoperative models when compared to the postoperative models. Accumulation of stresses in the orbital roof/medial orbital wall areas was observed, similar to fracture patterns observed in the younger pediatric population
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Restoring architectural integrity of the craniofacial skeleton results in significant increased resistance to deformational stresses despite structural weakening caused by harvesting cranial bone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, School of Computer and Electrical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 73104, USA.
authors.forename: Fares
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beainy
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: El Amm
authors.forename: Younane
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Abousleimane
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mapstone
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Beidas
authors.forename: Meredith
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Workman
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D003399:Craniotomy / Q000379:methods*; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D012886:Skull / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000637:transplantation*; D012887:Skull Fractures / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed