COMPARATIVE LEFT-RIGHT MECHANICAL TESTING OF CANCELLOUS BONE FROM NORMAL FEMORAL HEADS

In order to assess the potential influence of various physical or chem ical treatments on bone grafts, and in particular, on femoral heads to be used as bone grafts, the mechanical symmetry of the femoral head w as investigated. Pairs of proximal human femora were harvested and tra nsversally sliced using a coordinate system to orient correctly the he ad. After being embedded and polished, bone slices were loaded to fail ure between two steel columns (6 mm of diameter) in a sequential and s ymmetrical manner for both heads. From ten pairs, 592 mechanical assay s on the cancellous bone of femoral heads were performed. There was a high variation in the mechanical properties of the specimens from the different donors. However, no statistical difference could be observed within each pair when side-to-side symmetry was tested for the differ ent mechanical characteristics. Ultimate stress at failure and stiffne ss were also highly correlated for each mirror location of each pair. Provided that an accurate and reproducible method of slicing femoral h ead can be achieved. an excellent mechanical symmetry is observed usin g a static compressive test. Such a method could be used to determine the mechanical influence of any treatment applied to bone. Copyright ( C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd.