Towards patient-specific material modeling of trabecular bone post-yield behavior.

Area of Science:

• Biomechanical engineering
• Materials science
• Orthopedics

Background:

• Osteoporosis and other bone diseases are major causes of fractures, leading to significant healthcare burdens.
• Current methods for assessing fracture risk and therapy efficacy require improvement through a deeper understanding of bone mechanics.
• Patient-specific fracture risk assessment and treatment evaluation necessitate tools that consider bone's complex hierarchical structure.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review bone mechanics at macro, micro, and nanoscale levels.
• To analyze experimental evidence of bone mechanical behavior, including microdamage and toughening.
• To provide an overview of constitutive models for predicting patient-specific bone mechanics and outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Hierarchical analysis of bone mechanics from organ to ultrastructural levels.
• Review of experimental data on elastic and inelastic bone properties, microdamage, and toughening.
• Survey of constitutive models for bone mechanics.

Main Results:

• Bone mechanics are influenced by hierarchical structure across macro, micro, and nanoscale levels.
• Experimental data reveal complex mechanical behaviors, including microdamage accumulation and toughening mechanisms.
• Constitutive models are being developed to capture bone's variability and predict patient-specific responses.

Conclusions:

• A comprehensive understanding of bone's hierarchical structure is essential for accurate fracture risk prediction.
• Modeling bone mechanics across multiple scales is key to developing personalized treatments for bone diseases.
• Interdisciplinary approaches integrating experimental and computational methods are vital for advancing bone research.