Study design: A comparative analysis of parametric and patient-specific finite element (FE) modeling of spinal motion segments.
Objectives: To develop patient-specific FE models of spinal motion segments using mesh-morphing methods applied to a parametric FE model. To compare strain and displacement patterns in parametric and morphed models for both healthy and metastatically involved vertebrae.
Summary of background data: Parametric FE models may be limited in their ability to fully represent patient-specific geometries and material property distributions. Generation of multiple patient-specific FE models has been limited because of computational expense. Morphing methods have been successfully used to generate multiple specimen-specific FE models of caudal rat vertebrae.
Methods: FE models of a healthy and a metastatic T6-T8 spinal motion segment were analyzed with and without patient-specific material properties. Parametric and morphed models were compared using a landmark-based morphing algorithm.
Results: Morphing of the parametric FE model and including patient-specific material properties both had a strong impact on magnitudes and patterns of vertebral strain and displacement.
Conclusion: Small but important geometric differences can be represented through morphing of parametric FE models. The mesh-morphing algorithm developed provides a rapid method for generating patient-specific FE models of spinal motion segments.