The establishment and analysis of a finite element model of the whole cervical spine plus the skull base

English Keywords:Cervical spine  Finite element  Biomechanics

English Abstract:

  【Abstract】 Objectives: To establish a three-dimensional finite element model of the cervical spine plus skull base, and to evaluate its mechanism of the cervical spine disease. Methods: A 31-year-old healthy male volunteer underwent cervical thin-section CT scans. And the raw data of the CT scans were stored in Dicom format. Then the CT data were transferred into STL format by using modeling software Simpleware 3.0. And NURB surface model was obtained after data repair, noise removal and pavement under the help of Geomagic 8.0. Finally a full cervical spine(C0-C7) finite element model was established. Pre-processings, including interaction definition, meshing and the set-up of material properties, load and boundary, were done by using Hypermesh 9.0. Calculations were performed by using Abaqus 6-9-1, large finite element calculation software. The ROMs in flexion, extension, lateral bending and rotation were compared with the data reported by Panjabi in order to validate the model. Results: The final intact cervical spinal model consisted of 664026 elements and 228557 nodes. The model had the same similarity and profile as the clinical case, and the ROMs in flexion, extension, lateral bending and rotation were consisted by the data reported by Panjabi, there was difference only in C2-C3 rotary motion(6.03° vs 3°±2.5°，P＜0.05). Conclusions: The normal three-dimensional finite element model of the cervical spine plus the skull base meet the standards required in finite element analysis including geometric and mechanical similarities. Thereafter, the model can be used for biomechanical analysis of the cervical spine.