Sensitivity to model geometry in finite element analyses of reconstructed skeletal structures: Experience with a juvenile pelvis

Biomechanical analysis of juvenile pelvic growth can be used in the evaluation of medical devices and investigation of hip joint disorders. This requires access to scan data of healthy juveniles, which are not always freely available. This article analyses the application of a geometric morphometric technique, which facilitates the reconstruction of the articulated juvenile pelvis from cadaveric remains, in biomechanical modelling. The sensitivity of variation in reconstructed morphologies upon predicted stress/strain distributions is of particular interest. A series of finite element analyses of a 9-year-old hemi-pelvis were performed to examine differences in predicted strain distributions between a reconstructed model and the originally fully articulated specimen. Only minor differences in the minimum principal strain distributions were observed between two varying hemi-pelvic morphologies and that of the original articulation. A Wilcoxon rank-sum test determined there was no statistical significance between the nodal strains recorded at 60 locations throughout the hemi-pelvic structures. This example suggests that finite element models created by this geometric morphometric reconstruction technique can be used with confidence, and as observed with this hemi-pelvis model, even a visual morphological difference does not significantly affect the predicted results. The validated use of this geometric morphometric reconstruction technique in biomechanical modelling reduces the dependency on clinical scan data.