Optimisation of vertebroplasty to minimise adjacent vertebral failure
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Leeds
Department Name: Mechanical Engineering
Abstract
Many elderly people suffer from osteoporosis, which causes their bones to break very easily. One of the most common places for a fracture to occur is in the vertebrae of the spine. These fractures are difficult to treat and many patients suffer from long-term pain. Recently, a new method of keyhole surgery has been introduced to treat these types of injury. The treatment, called 'vertebroplasty' involves injecting a special cement through a fine needle into the spine to hold the fracture together. Early results have been positive, with the majority of patients saying they are in much less pain after the treatment. However, recently there have been reports that vertebroplasty may increase the risk of the patient having more fractures in the surrounding vertebrae. At the moment, little is know about how stiff the cement should be or how much to inject. The aim of this project is to develop computer models of the spine that can be used to predict what effects the cement will have on the surrounding region of the spine. To check these models make the right predictions, the results first need to be checked against experimental tests undertaken in the laboratory. Then, the computer models will be used to compare many different types and volumes of cement. The aim is to find the optimum combination that will reduce the risk of more fractures happening in the surrounding vertebrae.
Organisations
Publications
Wijayathunga VN
(2013)
Vertebroplasty: Patient and treatment variations studied through parametric computational models.
in Clinical biomechanics (Bristol, Avon)
V Wijayathunga
(2009)
Prophylactic Vertebroplasty: A Parametric Finite Element Study
Oakland RJ
(2009)
Preliminary biomechanical evaluation of prophylactic vertebral reinforcement adjacent to vertebroplasty under cyclic loading.
in The spine journal : official journal of the North American Spine Society
V Wijayathunga
(2008)
Finite Element Analysis of Vertebrae Using Specimen-specific Methods: Review of Methods and Accuracy.
in Journal of Medical Biomechanics
Jones AC
(2008)
Finite element analysis of the spine: towards a framework of verification, validation and sensitivity analysis.
in Medical engineering & physics
V Wijayathunga
(2008)
FE models of human vertebra - effect of image-based material property assignment
Wijayathunga VN
(2008)
Development of specimen-specific finite element models of human vertebrae for the analysis of vertebroplasty.
in Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers. Part H, Journal of engineering in medicine
Description | EPSRC Challenging Engineering |
Amount | £1,062,951 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/F010575/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2008 |
End | 04/2013 |
Description | ERC Starting grant |
Amount | € 1,500,000 (EUR) |
Organisation | European Research Council (ERC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | Belgium |
Start | 12/2012 |
End | 11/2017 |
Description | ULTRASPINE: Ultrasound-Enabled Minimally Invasive Disc Replacement |
Amount | £991,843 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/K020757/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2013 |
End | 03/2018 |
Title | microCT vertebra database |
Description | Database of over 50 high resolution scans of vertebrae made using microCT |
Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
Provided To Others? | No |
Impact | follow-on funding obtained to use database to develop new modelling methods for spine to represent patient variation (EPSRC IKC proof of concept) and ERC Starting grant |
Description | Local engagement activities |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Stands always very popular with large numbers of delegates attending and requests to hold follow-on activities with schools and exhibit at future events. Extremely positive feedback from attendees, teachers and parents, leading to increasing requests to provide exhibits for other events |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2009,2010,2011,2012,2013,2014 |