The Effect of Micro Grooving on Goat Total Knee Replacement: A Finite Element Study

A method to improve the mechanical fixation of a total knee replacement (TKR) implant is clinically important and is the purpose of this study. More than one million joint replacement procedures are performed in people each year in the United States, and experts predict the number to increase six-fold by the year 2030. Whether cemented or uncemented, joint prostheses may destabilize over time and necessitate revision. Approximately 40,000 hip arthroplasty surgeries have to be revised each year and the rate is expected to increase by approximately 140% (and by 600% for total knee replacement) over the next 25 years. In veterinary surgery, joint replacement has a long history and the phenomenon of surgical revision is also well recognized. For the betterment of both people and animals, improving the longevity of arthroplasty devices is of the utmost clinical importance, and towards that end, several strategies are under investigation. One approach that we explore in the present research is to improve the biomechanical performance of cemented implant systems by altering the implant surface architecture in a way that facilitates its cement bonding capacity. Beginning with the Charnley system, early femoral stems were polished smooth, but a number of subsequent designs have featured a roughened surface — created with bead or grit blasting — to improve cement bonding. Failure at the implant-cement interface remains an issue with these newer designs, leading us to explore in this present research an alternate, novel approach to surface alteration — specifically, laser microgrooving. This study used various microgrooves architectures that is feasible using a laser micromachining process on a tibia tray (TT) for the goat TKR. Developing the laser microgrooving (LM) procedure, we hypothesized feasibility in producing parallel microgrooves of precise dimensions and spacing on both flat and round metallic surfaces. We further hypothesized that laser microgrooving would increase surface area and roughness of the cement interface of test metallic implants and that such would translate into an improved acute mechanical performance as assessed in vitro under both static and cyclic loads. The objective was to develop a computational model to determine the effect of LIM on the tibial tray to the mechanical stimuli distributions from implant to bone using the finite element method. This study designed goat TT 3D solid model from a computer topography (CT) images, out of which three different laser microgrooves were engraved on TT sample by varying depth, height and space between two adjacent grooves. The simulation test results concluded that microgrooves acchitecures positively influence microstrain behavior around the implant/bone interfaces. There is a higher amount of strain observed for microgroove implant/bone samples compared to non-groove implant/bone samples. Thus, the laser-induced microgrooves have the potential to be used clinically in TKR components.