Biomechanical evaluation of reconstructed lumbosacral spine after total sacrectomy

Abstract.

 When a sacral tumor involves the first sacral vertebra, total sacrectomy is necessary. It is mandatory to reconstruct the continuity between the spine and the pelvis after total sacrectomy. In this study, strain and stress on the instruments and the bones were evaluated for two reconstruction methods: a modified Galveston reconstruction (MGR) and a triangular frame reconstruction (TFR). Compressive loading tests were performed using polyurethane vertebral models, and a finite element model of a lumbar spine and pelvis was constructed. Then three-dimensional MGR and TFR models were reconstructed, and finite element analysis was performed to account for the stress on the bones and instruments. With MGR, excessive stress was concentrated at the spinal rod, and there was a strong possibility that the rod between the spine and the pelvis might fail. Although there was no stress concentration on the instruments with TFR, excessive stress on the iliac bone around the sacral rod was more than the yielding stress of the iliac bone. Such stress may cause loosening of the sacral rod from the iliac bone. If the patient were to stand or sit immediately after MGR or TFR, instrumentation failure or loosening might occur.