Study on the piezoelectric properties of cancellous bone

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The research project is closely linked with the development of electro-stimulative endoprostheses for the hip joint. The results, however, have a much broader meaning. With a growing aging population, increasingly, revision surgery may be necessary. Often large bone damage is found in the immediate vicinity of the endoprosthesis. Such bone damage may also be caused by disease (eg, bone cancer, damages from alcohol abuse) or accident. In previous work, working closely with colleagues from orthopedics, a first design of an electrode system for a electro-stimulative hip replacement was developed. Although in principle the method of electrical stimulation to enhance bone growth has been known and attained for nearly four decades, many questions still remain open regarding the basic mechanism of action. Furthermore, the empirical stimulation parameters clinically showed to be effective, but it remains unclear whether these are the optimal parameters and how they are exactly related to the physiological processes. Therefore, the goal of this project is to accurately investigate the piezoelectric behavior of bone tissue and to specify appropriate piezoelectric tissue parameters. Here, an experimental test set-up of Fukada and Yasuda, who were the first in 1957 to demonstrate the piezoelectric properties of bone experimentally, will be used and the experiments are reproduced in silico as well. In the simulations, extensive parametric studies are carried out. The resulting tissue parameters should be used in other projects in order to optimize the stimulation parameters previously empirically.