Effect of cartilage thickness mismatch in osteochondral grafting from knee to talus on articular contact pressures: A finite element analysis
Ömer Faruk Kılıçaslan1
, Ali Levent2, Hüseyin Kürşat Çelik3, Mehmet Ali Tokgöz4, Özkan Köse1, Allan E. W. Rennie5
1Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, HSU, Antalya Training and Research Hospital, Antalya, Turkey
2Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, HSU, Şanlıurfa Mehmet Akif Inan Training and Research Hospital, Şanlıurfa, Turkey
3Department of Agricultural Machinery and Technology Engineering, Akdeniz University, Antalya, Turkey
4Department of Orthopedics and Traumatology, HSU, Ankara Keçiören Training and Research Hospital, Ankara, Turkey
5Department of Engineering, Lancaster University, Lancaster, United Kingdom
Keywords: Cartilage, mosaicplasty, osteochondral grafting, osteochondral lesions, talus; tibiotalar contact pressure
Abstract
Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of cartilage thickness mismatch on tibiotalar articular contact pressure in osteochondral grafting from femoral condyles to medial talar dome using a finite element analysis (FEA).
Materials and methods: Flush-implanted osteochondral grafting was performed on the talar centromedial aspect of the dome using osteochondral plugs with two different cartilage thicknesses. One of the plugs had an equal cartilage thickness with the recipient talar cartilage and the second plug had a thicker cartilage representing a plug harvested from the knee. The ankle joint was loaded during a single-leg stance phase of gait. Tibiotalar contact pressure, frictional stress, equivalent stress (von Mises values), and deformation were analyzed.
Results: In both osteochondral grafting simulations, tibiotalar contact pressure, frictional stress, equivalent stress (von Mises values) on both tibial and talar cartilage surfaces were restored to near-normal values.
Conclusion: Cartilage thickness mismatch does not significantly change the tibiotalar contact biomechanics, when the graft is inserted flush with the talar cartilage surface.
Citation: Kılıçaslan ÖF, Levent A, Çelik HK, Tokgöz MA, Köse Ö, Rennie AEW. Effect of cartilage thickness mismatch in osteochondral grafting from knee to talus on articular contact pressures: A finite element analysis. Jt Dis Relat Surg 2021;32(2):355-362.
The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article.
The authors received no financial support for the research and/or authorship of this article.