[Stress levels in bones and bone cement in the thoracolumbar spine afer kyphoplasty. Finite element study]

The study quantified the stress levels in treated and untreated vertebral bodies following kyphoplasty. Three-dimensional FE models of treated and untreated T11, T12, L1, and L2 vertebral bodies were evaluated to examine the stress levels within the bone and bone cement. A validated T12-L1 model was used to investigate the effect of kyphoplasty treatment on adjacent vertebral stresses and strains. Using the single vertebral models, bone cement modulus changes had minimal effect on the stresses in the bone or the cement. The presence of bone cement had a minimal effect on the stress magnitudes or distribution in the adjacent T12 vertebra. This study provides quantification of the stress levels in bone cement and bone in vertebral bodies treated with kyphoplasty under in vivo-like loading conditions. The presence of bone cement immediately following kyphoplasty has only a slight effect on the stress magnitudes or distributions in adjacent vertebrae.