Cancellous bone screw purchase: A comparison of synthetic femurs, human femurs, and finite element analysis

Biomechanical assessments of orthopaedic fracture fixation constructs are increasingly using commercially available analogues such as the fourth-generation composite femur (4GCF). The aim of this study was to compare cancellous screw purchase directly between these surrogates and human femurs, which has not been done previously. Synthetic and human femurs each had one orthopaedic cancellous screw (major diameter, 6.5 mm) inserted along the femoral neck axis and into the spongy bone of the femoral head to a depth of 30 mm. Screws were removed to obtain pull-out force, shear stress, and energy values. The three experimental study groups ( n = 6 femurs each) were the 4GCF with a ‘solid’ cancellous matrix, the 4GCF with a ‘cellular’ cancellous matrix, and human femurs. Moreover, a finite element model was developed on the basis of the material properties and anatomical geometry of the two synthetic femurs in order to assess cancellous screw purchase. The results for force, shear stress, and energy respectively were as follows: 4GCF solid femurs, 926.47 ± 66.76 N, 2.84 ± 0.20 MPa, and 0.57 ± 0.04 J; 4GCF cellular femurs, 1409.64 ± 133.36 N, 4.31 ± 0.41 MPa, and 0.99 ± 0.13 J; human femurs, 1523.29 ± 1380.15 N, 4.66 ± 4.22 MPa, and 2.78 ± 3.61 J. No statistical differences were noted when comparing the three experimental groups for pull-out force ( p = 0.413), shear stress ( p = 0.412), or energy ( p = 0.185). The 4GCF with either a ‘solid’ or ‘cellular’ cancellous matrix is a good biomechanical analogue to the human femur at the screw thread—bone interface. This is the first study to perform a three-way investigation of cancellous screw purchase using 4GCFs, human femurs, and finite element analysis.