COMPRESSIVE PROPERTIES OF TRABECULAR BONE RELATED TO MICROCT EVALUATED MORPHOMETRIC PARAMETERS: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

This work describes the preliminary results of an ongoing study, that aims to obtain relationships between the experimentally determined mechanical properties of trabecular bone of the human femoral head and the morphometric parameters evaluated by microCT. Thirteen cylindrical samples of human trabecular bone were extracted from the femoral head of thirteen patients. They were examined by microCT and then mechanically tested in compression along the main axis observable in the trabeculae. After mechanical testing, the ash density of the samples was determined. Linear relationships were found between ash density and the bone volume fraction (R-2 = 0.83), elastic modulus and bone volume fraction (R-2 = 0.72), ultimate stress and bone volume fraction (R-2 = 0.81), in agreement with what reported in literature. The described protocol will be used to investigate trabecular bone samples collected from patients with different pathologies.