Introduction. The objective of this study was to determine if a synthetic bone
substitute would provide results similar to bone from osteoporotic
femoral heads during in vitro testing with orthopaedic
implants. If the synthetic material could produce results similar
to those of the osteoporotic bone, it could reduce or eliminate
the need for testing of implants on bone. Methods. Pushout studies were performed with the dynamic hip screw (DHS)
and the DHS Blade in both cadaveric femoral heads and artificial
bone substitutes in the form of polyurethane foam blocks of different
density. The pushout studies were performed as a means of comparing
the force displacement curves produced by each implant within each
material. Results. The results demonstrated that test material with a density of
0.16 g/cm. 3. (block A) produced qualitatively similar force
displacement curves for the DHS and qualitatively and quantitatively
similar force displacement curves for the DHS Blade, whereas the
test material with a density of 0.08 g/cm. 3. (block B)
did not produce results that were predictive of those recorded within
the osteoporotic cadaveric femoral heads. Conclusion. This study demonstrates that synthetic material with a density
of 0.16 g/cm. 3. can provide a good substitute for cadaveric
osteoporotic femoral heads in the testing of implants. However we
do recognise that no synthetic material can be considered as a definitive
substitute for bone, therefore studies performed with artificial
bone substrates may need to be validated by further testing with
a
