Participant-specific and Generic Poromechanical Modelling of the Knee Joints

你知道吗，当你跳跃着地时，膝盖软骨和半月板中的液体支持着至少60%的膝盖冲击力。液体压力会随着液体从组织中流出而降低，如果你站着不动，膝盖内的组织会发生更大的变形。因为软骨没有血管，所以这种液体还能满足生命所必需的代谢功能。我的团队开发了计算模型，以了解流体压力和流动在膝关节的机械功能和组织新陈代谢中的作用。人类的膝关节是一个活生生的机制，包括关节软骨和半月板，它们含有65%-80%的液体，在膝盖压缩下产生液体压力和流动。计算机膝关节模型可以用来解释膝关节的正常功能，以及运动损伤和手术对膝盖的影响。这项拟议的研究通过两个方面取得进展：(1)确定膝关节软骨和半月板中的液体压力和流动在负荷传递和组织代谢中的作用；(2)将从个人获得的研究成果推广到更大的人群。例如，膝关节生物力学方面的新知识将有助于设计运动策略来减缓膝关节软骨的衰老过程。健壮的膝盖模型也可以用于开发下一代类人机器人。我的团队率先使用特定于标本或参与者的模型来研究流体诱导的膝关节力学，特别是孔洞力学：我们的模型建立在猪标本或人类参与者的膝关节解剖基础上。新鲜的猪膝盖被用来帮助模型开发和减少参与者的使用。这是我研究的创新特点，因为有关软骨和半月板内流体压力和流动的知识可能有助于组织工程。为了将研究成果推广到不同的人群，我们将为每个亚群开发一个通用的膝关节模型，用于潜在地预测数百万人的膝关节生物力学。通用模型将使用从代表目标人群的公共数据库中的各种膝部轮廓导出的参数，从参与者特定的模型修改。通过这种方法，通用模型将能够预测一群人的生物力学行为，而不是几个参与者。通用模型可能会更好地达成普遍理解，这将促进实际应用。这项研究将提供经过充分测试的建模方法和免费向公众提供的通用模型样本，用于纯粹的研究目的或临床应用。通用模型可以用来预测目标人群正常和受损膝盖的生物力学，而参与者特定的模型可以被调整来帮助患者特定的植入物的设计。

Did you know that the fluid in your knee cartilages and menisci supports at least 60% of the impact force to your knees when you land to the ground from a jump? The fluid pressure is reduced with fluid flowing out of the tissues and more tissue deformation in your knee will be developed if you stand still afterwards. The fluid also fulfills the life-essential metabolic functions, because cartilage has no blood vessels. My team develops computational models to understand the roles of fluid pressure and flow in the mechanical function and tissue metabolism of the knee. The human knee is a living mechanism that includes articular cartilages and menisci, which contain 65-80% fluid that produces fluid pressure and flow under knee compression. Computer knee models can be used to interpret the normal function of the knee and the consequences of sports injury and surgery on the knee. The proposed research enables advances through two aspects: (1) to determine the roles of the fluid pressure and flow in knee cartilages and menisci in load transmission and tissue metabolism; and (2) to extend research results obtained from individuals to a large population. As one example, new knowledge in knee biomechanics will facilitate the design of exercise strategies to slow down the aging process in knee cartilage. A robust knee model can also be used in developing next-generation humanoid robots. My team has pioneered the study of fluid-induced mechanics of the knee, specifically poromechanics, using specimen- or participant-specific modelling: our models are built on the knee anatomy of pig specimens or human participants. Fresh pig knees are used to aid model development and reduce the use of participants. This has been the innovative feature of my research as knowledge of fluid pressure and flow in cartilage and meniscus may aid tissue engineering. In order to extend research outcomes to a diverse population, we will develop one generic knee model for each sub-population that will be used to potentially predict the knee biomechanics for millions of people. The generic model will be modified from a participant-specific model using parameters derived from a variety of knee profiles from public databases, representing the targeted population. With this approach the generic model will enable predicting biomechanical behaviour for a sub-population rather than a few participants. A universal understanding may be better achieved with generic models, which will promote practical applications. This research will deliver fully tested modelling methods and sample generic models freely available to the public for pure research purposes or clinical applications. The generic models can be used to predict the biomechanics of normal and impaired knees for targeted populations, while the participant-specific models could be adapted to aid the design of patient-specific implants.