Bioactive glass (BAG) granules (S53P4) have shown good clinical results in one-stage treatment of osteomyelitis. During this treatment, a cortical window is created, and infected bone is debrided, which results in large defects that affect the mechanical properties of the bone. This study aimed to evaluate the role of BAG granules in load-bearing bone defect grafting. First, the influence of the geometry of the cortical window on the bone bending stiffness and estimated failure moments was evaluated using micro finite element analysis (µFE). This resulted in significant differences between the variations in width and length. In addition, µFE analysis showed that BAG granules contribute to bearing loads in simulated compression of a tibia with a defect grafted with BAG and a BAG and bone morsel mixture. These mixtures potentially can unload the cortical bone that is weakened by a large defect directly after the operation by up to approximately 25%, but only in case of optimal load transfer through the mixture.
Keywords: bioactive glass granules; finite element analysis; load sharing; mechanical properties; osteomyelitis; stiffness; treatment.