Besa Pablo, Alegría Anselmo, González Nicolás, Biancardi Fiorella, Vidal Catalina, Cikutovic Pablo, Andia Marcelo E, Mura Joaquín
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Radiology Department, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile.
Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2025 May 22;13:1541536. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1541536. eCollection 2025.
The tibial plateau has different anatomical regions and heterogeneous bone densities. Most finite element simulation (FEM) studies of tibial plateau fracture fail to account these regional variations, which may significantly influence biomechanical behavior. This study aimed to quantify the regional density profile of the tibial plateau using Hounsfield Units (HU) from computed tomography (CT) scans and explore associations between density, age, and sex. We developed a novel measurement protocol to compare HU values of the subchondral bone and cancellous bone in eight different regions of the tibial plateau. Results demonstrated that patient age and female sex were associated with reduced bone density. Subchondral bone and medial bone had significantly higher density than metaphyseal and lateral bone, respectively. This findings could have implications on orthopedic modeling of tibial plateau fractures using FEM. Current FEM should consider distinct regions in tibial plateau to improve accuracy. Conclusion: Tibial plateau heterogenous bone density distribution could contribute to explain the low predictive accuracy in FEM models.
胫骨平台具有不同的解剖区域和不均匀的骨密度。大多数关于胫骨平台骨折的有限元模拟（FEM）研究未能考虑这些区域差异，而这些差异可能会显著影响生物力学行为。本研究旨在使用计算机断层扫描（CT）扫描中的亨氏单位（HU）量化胫骨平台的区域密度分布，并探讨密度、年龄和性别的关联。我们开发了一种新颖的测量方案，以比较胫骨平台八个不同区域的软骨下骨和松质骨的HU值。结果表明，患者年龄和女性性别与骨密度降低有关。软骨下骨和内侧骨的密度分别显著高于干骺端和外侧骨。这一发现可能对使用FEM进行胫骨平台骨折的骨科建模有影响。当前的FEM应考虑胫骨平台的不同区域以提高准确性。结论：胫骨平台不均匀的骨密度分布有助于解释FEM模型中较低的预测准确性。
