Gaussian random field-based characterization and reconstruction of cancellous bone microstructure considering the constraint of correlation structure

Abstract

<p>The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/macroscale" title="Learn more about macro scale from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">macro scale</a> physical properties of cancellous bone materials are governed by the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/microstructural-feature" title="Learn more about microstructural features from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">microstructural features</a>, which is of great significance for the multi-scale research of cancellous bone and the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/inverse-design" title="Learn more about inverse design from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">inverse design</a> of bone-mimicking materials. Therefore, it is essential to characterize the natural cancellous bone samples, and reconstruct the microstructures with the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/biomimetics" title="Learn more about biomimetic from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">biomimetic</a> osteointegration and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/mechanical-property" title="Learn more about mechanical properties from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">mechanical properties</a>. In this research, a novel approach for the characterization and reconstruction of cancellous bone was proposed, based on the medical image analysis and <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/anisotropic" title="Learn more about anisotropic from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">anisotropic</a> three-dimensional Gaussian random field (GRF). The <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/geometric-similarity" title="Learn more about geometric similarity from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">geometric similarity</a>, i.e. the interface curvature distribution (ISD), was meticulously studied, which is important to the osteointegration ability. And the <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/materials-science/mechanical-property" title="Learn more about mechanical properties from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">mechanical properties</a> were validated by the stress-strain curves under the large <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/compressive-strain" title="Learn more about compressive strain from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">compressive strain</a> simulated by the smoothed particle <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/hydrodynamics" title="Learn more about hydrodynamic from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">hydrodynamic</a> (SPH) method. In addition, the effects of the generation parameters of GRF-based <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/biomimetics" title="Learn more about biomimetic from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">biomimetic</a> microstructures on the apparent properties were analyzed. The ISD results demonstrated that both GRF and micro-CT groups had the similar columnar morphological properties, while the latter had more hyperbolic features. And it was found that the GRF-based biomimetic microstructures and the natural bone samples based on micro-CT (MCT) had the similar failure mode. The concordance correlation coefficient between MCT and GRF pairs was 0.8685, with a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/pearsons-linear-correlation-coefficient" title="Learn more about Pearson from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">Pearson</a> p value of 0.8804, and significance level p<0.0001. The Bland-Altman LoA was 0.1647 MPa with 95 % (1.96SD) lower and upper bound value between −0.2892 and 0.6185 MPa. The two groups had almost the same <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/youngs-modulus" title="Learn more about elastic modulus from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">elastic modulus</a> with the mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) of 7.84 %. While the yield stress and total conversion energy of the GRF-based samples were lower than those of the natural bone samples, and the MAPE were 16.99 % and 16.27 %, respectively. Although it meant the lower structural efficiency, the huge design space of this approach and advanced <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/3d-printing" title="Learn more about 3D printing from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">3D printing</a> technology can provide great potential for the design of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/orthopaedic-implant" title="Learn more about orthopedic implants from ScienceDirect's AI-generated Topic Pages">orthopedic implants</a>.</p>