Mechanically-driven bone remodeling simulation: Application to LIPUS treated rat calvarial defects

In this paper we numerically simulate the phenomenon of bone growth in bone defects as driven by external mechanical excitation. Bone growth is accounted for through a continuum model that allows simulation of the filling of a defect. The influence of the model boundary conditions is also discussed. Two and three dimensional simulations are presented, explicitly showing the bone regeneration process inside the cavity on a weekly basis. Numerical results are qualitatively compared with literature experimental data from a rat calvarial defect exposed to low-intensity pulsed ultrasound. The obtained results show trend correlations with the targeted phenomenological observations and allow us to perform a first evaluation of the proposed model parameters to be optimized for clinically relevant situations, even if a systematic experimental campaign is still needed to precisely identify the bio-mechanical parameters involved.