ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.

Sec. Biomechanics

Volume 13 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2025.1541536

This article is part of the Research TopicBiomechanics in Orthopaedic Diseases and Surgery, Volume IIView all 14 articles

Regional Bone Density Patterns of the Tibial Plateau: Implications for Finite Element Analysis

Provisionally accepted
Pablo BesaPablo Besa1Anselmo AlegriaAnselmo Alegria1*Nicolas GonzalezNicolas Gonzalez1Fiorella BiancardiFiorella Biancardi2Catalina VidalCatalina Vidal1Pablo CikutovicPablo Cikutovic3Marcelo AndiaMarcelo Andia3,4Joaquín MuraJoaquín Mura5,6
  • 1Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
  • 2School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
  • 3Department of Radiology, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile
  • 4Millennium Institute for Intelligent Healthcare Engineering - iHEALTH, Santiago, Chile
  • 5Department of Mechanical Engineering, Federico Santa María Technical University, Valparaíso, Chile
  • 6Millennium Nucleus in Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, Santiago, Santiago Metropolitan Region (RM), Chile

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The tibial plateau has different anatomical regions and heterogeneous bone densities. Most finite element simulation (FEM) studies of tibial plateau fracture fail to account these regional variations, which may significantly influence biomechanical behavior. This study aimed to (1) quantify the regional density profile of the tibial plateau using Hounsfield Units (HU) from computed tomography (CT) scans and (2) explore associations between density, age, and sex. We developed a novel measurement protocol to compare HU values of the subchondral bone and cancellous bone in eight different regions of the tibial plateau. Results demonstrated that patient age and female sex were associated with reduced bone density. Subchondral bone and medial bone had significantly higher density than metaphyseal and lateral bone, respectively. This findings could have implications on orthopedic modeling of tibial plateau fractures using FEM. Current FEM should consider distinct regions in tibial plateau to improve accuracy. Conclusion: Tibial plateau heterogenous bone density distribution could contribute to explain the low predictive accuracy in FEM models.

Keywords: tibial plateau anatomy, Finite Element Modeling, Bone Density, Tibial fracture, Bone architecture

Received: 08 Dec 2024; Accepted: 25 Apr 2025.

Copyright: © 2025 Besa, Alegria, Gonzalez, Biancardi, Vidal, Cikutovic, Andia and Mura. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

* Correspondence: Anselmo Alegria, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Santiago, Chile

Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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