Estimation of Young's modulus in swine cortical bone using quantitative computed tomography.

The cortical bones of swine were cut into plates measuring 40 x 10 x 2 mm and scanned by quantitative computed tomography (QCT). Compressive loading tests were performed at 100 Newtons, and the strain on the bone was measured with strain gauges. The mean Young's modulus and Poisson's ratio of one hundred specimens were 19.4 +/- 5.8 GPa and 0.34 +/- 0.09, respectively. A positive correlation (r = 0.47 +/- 0.11, p < 0.001) was observed between Young's modulus and the bone density of specimens determined by QCT, which suggests that QCT values might directly predict Young's modulus of cortical bone.