Tj. Haire et al., A comparison of porosity, fabric and fractal dimension as predictors of the Young's modulus of equine cancellous bone, MED ENG PHY, 20(8), 1998, pp. 588-593
The purpose of this study was to compare the structural parameters of fabri
c and fractal dimension as predictors of the Young's modulus of equine canc
ellous bone. Eight 15 mm cubes of cancellous bone were obtained from three
equine third metacarpal bones. Young's modulus was determined for the three
orthogonal directions. The fabric and fractal dimension were calculated fo
r each of the six exposed faces of each cube. Fractal dimension plus porosi
ty provided a higher explanatory power for Young's modulus (R-2 = 78.7%, P
< 0.0001) than fabric plus porosity (R-2 = 69.2%, P < 0.0001). Fractal dime
nsion was also significantly correlated with fabric (R2 = 53.8%, P ( 0.0001
). Although this novel method for combining fractal dimension data into a p
seudo-directionally dependent predictor of Young's modulus requires further
validation over a greater range of porosities and differing cancellous bon
e tissues, its potential has been demonstrated. (C) 1998 IPEM. Published by
Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.