ISO 12189 standard for the preclinical evaluation of posterior spinal stabilization devices - II: A parametric comparative study

The International Standardization Organization (ISO) 12189 standard was recently introduced to preclinically evaluate and compare the mechanical properties of posterior stabilization devices. This scenario presents some new significant steps ahead over the vertebrectomy model recommended by American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) F1717 standard: the modular anterior support allows for describing a closer scenario to the effective clinical use as well as to test very flexible and dynamic posterior stabilization devices. Despite these significant advantages, ISO 12189 received little attention in the literature. Anatomical parameters depending on the spinal level were compared to the published data or original measurements on biplanar stereoradiography on 13 patients. Other mechanical variables, describing the test set-up design, were considered and all parameters were investigated using a numerical parametric finite element model. Stress values were calculated by also considering their worst-case combination. The standard set-up represents quite well the anatomy of an instrumented average thoracolumbar segment. The parametric comparative analysis demonstrates a significant (even beyond +350%) maximum increase in the stress on the device, compared to the standard currently in use. The anterior support stiffness plays the most detrimental effect (maximum stress increases up to 396%). The initial precompression step has an important role in determining the final stress ...
Source: Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part H: Journal of Engineering in Medicine - Category: Biomedical Engineering Authors: Tags: Original Articles Source Type: research