Effects of the material properties of a focal knee articular prosthetic on the human knee joint using computational simulation

Abstract Background Localized cartilage defects are related to joint pain and reduced function to the development of osteoarthritis. The mechanical properties of the implant for treatment do influence its longevity. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effect of material properties' variations of anatomically shaped focal knee implants in the knee joint using numerical finite element analysis. Methods Computational simulations were performed for different cases including an intact knee, a knee with a focal cartilage defect, and a knee fitted with a focal articular prosthetic having three distinct mechanical properties: cobalt–chromium, pyrolytic carbon, and polyethylene. Femoral cartilage, tibial cartilage, and menisci contact pressures were evaluated under the load. In addition, bone stress was evaluated to investigate the stress shielding effect. Results Compared with the intact model, the contact stress of the focal implant model was increased; on the femoral lateral cartilage by 14%, on medial and lateral tibial cartilages by nine percent and 10%, on medial and lateral menisci by 23% and 20%. In contrast, the focal implant model had no effect on the menisci but contact stress on the tibial cartilage increased compared with the intact model. The BioPoly model showed the lowest contact stress on femoral and tibial cartilages. Additionally, the cobalt–chromium model showed the lowest bone stress that improved the load-sharing effect. Conclusions The results suggested that implant material properties are an important parameter in the design of a focal implant. The polyethylene model potentially restored the intact knee contact mechanics and it reduced the risk of physiological damage to the articular cartilage.