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Chapter A2 Cancellous Bone

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Handbook of Biomaterial Properties

Abstract

Cancellous bone (also referred to as trabecular bone or spongy bone) is a porous cellular solid consisting of platelike and rodlike struts called trabeculae. The size and arrangement of trabeculae vary among species and within regions of the skeleton and change with age. Average trabecular thickness can be as great as 300 μm but, in elderly human tissue, ranges from 100 to 200 μm [1]. The orientation of trabeculae within cancellous bone varies, resulting in considerable specimen-to-specimen heterogeneity. At the continuum level (specimens 3–5 mm in smallest dimension) the density of cancellous bone is measured as the mass of the specimen (wet after removing the marrow) divided by specimen volume and is referred to as the “apparent density.” The apparent density of human cancellous bone typically ranges from 0.05 to 1.1 g/cm3. The apparent density of cancellous bone is not to be confused with the “tissue density” which expresses the density of individual trabeculae. The volume fraction of human cancellous bone (expressed in the bone literature as BV/TV) ranges from 5 % to 60 %. The surface-to-volume ratio of human cancellous bone (BS/TV) is related to bone volume fraction in the following manner [2]:

$$ \frac{\mathrm{BS}}{\mathrm{TV}}=8.84{\left(\frac{\mathrm{BV}}{\mathrm{TV}}\right)}^{0.70} $$

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Cornell University, 219 Upson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Christopher J. Hernandez

  2. Meinig School of Biomedical Engineering, Cornell University, 219 Upson Hall, Ithaca, NY, 14853, USA

    Christopher J. Hernandez

Authors
  1. Christopher J. Hernandez
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Correspondence to Christopher J. Hernandez .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering and Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation, University of Wisconsin Department of Biomedical Engineering and, MADISON, Wisconsin, USA

    William Murphy

  2. King of Prussia, Principal: IMN Biomaterials King of Prussia, King of Prussia, PA, New York, USA

    Jonathan Black

  3. Staffordshire University (Emeritus), Lyme, Staffordshire, United Kingdom

    Garth Hastings

Additional Reading

Additional Reading

Cowin S. Bone Mechanics Handbook. In. 2 ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2001.

This book provides a complete review of bone mechanical properties and interactions with bone cell biology.

Currey JD. Bones: Structure and Mechanics. Princeton, NJ, USA: Princeton University Press; 2002.

This is a review that includes thorough discussion of non-human bone mechanical properties and function.

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Hernandez, C.J. (2016). Chapter A2 Cancellous Bone. In: Murphy, W., Black, J., Hastings, G. (eds) Handbook of Biomaterial Properties. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-3305-1_2

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