Analysis on Femoral Neck Fractures Using Morphological Variations

It has been reported that the femoral morphology has a major correlation to femoral neck fractures(FNF). Previous studies to analyze these correlations have relied on mechanical testing and finite element methods. However, these methods have not been widely applied to various femur samples and models. It is because of the availability of the samples from both patients and cadavers, and also of the geometric limitations in changing the shape of the models. In this study we analyzed femoral neck fractures using a parameterized femoral model that could provide flexibility in changing the geometry of the model for the wide applications of FNF analysis. With the parameterization a variety of models could be generated by changing four major dimensions: femoral head diameter(FHD), femoral neck diameter(FND), femoral neck length(FNL), and neck-shaft angle(NSA). We have performed FEA on the models to compute the stress distributions and reaction forces, and compare them with the data previously generated from mechanical testing. The analysis results indicate that the FND is significantly related with the FNF and the FHD is not significantly related with the FNF.