Biomechanical assays for the study of the effects of hip prostheses: application to the reconstruction of bone defects with femoral allografts.

There is a need to study and validate the mechanical behavior of the bone-implant total hip prosthesis and the treatment of its complications with experimental studies due to the limitations showed by numerical methods. Epoxy resin replicas of a femur (stereolithography) and a mechanical validation were performed. We studied three cases: intact femur (Case 1); non-defective femur with non-cemented LD primary stem (Case 2); and femur with a cavitary defect, short cemented stem over an impacted allograft (Case 3). The test pieces were connected to 7 strain gauges. Three assays per piece were carried out with a vertical and oblique load (load-unload curves after a sequence between 0 and 145.9 N). We measured the k coefficient (distance from the natural state of the strains) and stability of the stem (flexion-compression by strain gauges 1, 2, 5, and 7 and transversal lengthening by strain gauges 3, 4, and 6). Results of the strain gauge analysis revealed linearity of results in all cases, and more so in load than in unload. Gauge 7 (proximal) revealed shortening in all cases. Gauges 2 and 5 provided qualitatively similar data due to a significant increase in rigidity. K coefficients were obtained with a nonsignificant difference when each of the test pieces was compared with Case 2. The results were reproducible in all 7 gauges. Observation of the load-unload curves in all the test pieces assayed shows that there are no variations in the pattern of behavior (when comparing the stability of a primary stem and a stem in the simulated reconstructed femoral defect. If these reconstructions are considered theoretically appropriate for giving primary stability to the stem--a sine qua non for the success of replacement surgery--then our study is novel.