Determination of mechanical properties of impacted human morsellized cancellous allografts for revision joint arthroplasty

This paper deals with the characterization of mechanical properties of impa cted morsellized cancellous allograft (IMCA) produced by dynamic compaction of allograft femoral heads ground by commercially available bone mills, i. e. rotating rasp and reciprocating type bone mills. Various ranges and prof iles of particle size in the graft aggregates were obtained using these bon e mills, and the effect of number of compaction as well as the distribution of particle sizes on the mechanical properties of IMCA under quasistatic c ompression and shear loading conditions was discussed. The morsellized canc ellous allograft prepared by the reciprocating type bone mill showed a broa d distribution of particle sizes, and gave IMCA superior mechanical propert ies to the graft with a more uniform size distribution, or prepared by the rotating rasp type bone mills. The increase of number of compaction also im proved the mechanical properties of IMCA in compression. (C) 1999 Kluwer Ac ademic Publishers.