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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol.
Sec. Biomechanics
Volume 12 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1477405
This article is part of the Research Topic Computational and Experimental Approaches on Soft Tissues Biomechanics and Mechanobiology View all 15 articles

A novel strain-based bone-fracture healing algorithm is able to predict a range of healing outcomes

Provisionally accepted
George T. Morgan George T. Morgan 1Lucas Low Lucas Low 1Arul Ramasamy Arul Ramasamy 1,2,3Spyros D. Masouros Spyros D. Masouros 1*
  • 1 Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
  • 2 Academic Department of Military Trauma and Orthopaedics, Royal Centre for Defence Medicine, ICT Centre, Birmingham, United Kingdom
  • 3 Trauma and Orthopaedics, Milton Keynes Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, Milton Keynes, United Kingdom

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Fracture healing is a complex process which sometimes results in non-unions, leading to prolonged disability and high morbidity. Traditional methods of optimizing fracture treatments, such as in vitro benchtop testing and in vivo randomized controlled trials, face limitations, particularly in evaluating the entire healing process. This study introduces a novel, strain-based fracture-healing algorithm designed to predict a wide range of healing outcomes, including both successful unions and non-unions. The algorithm uses principal strains as mechanical stimuli to simulate fracture healing in response to local mechanical environments within the callus region. The model demonstrates good agreement with experimental data from ovine metatarsal osteotomies across six fracture cases with varying gap widths and inter-fragmentary strains, replicates physiological bony growth patterns, and is independent of the initial callus geometry. This computational approach provides a framework for developing new fracture-fixation devices, aid in pre-surgical planning, and optimize rehabilitation strategies.

    Keywords: fracture healing algorithm, Bone, principal strains, Fracture Fixation, in-silico trial, Healing assessment, Non-union

    Received: 07 Aug 2024; Accepted: 09 Oct 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Morgan, Low, Ramasamy and Masouros. 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: Spyros D. Masouros, Department of Bioengineering, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

    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.