Risk-based analysis of femoral stem considering uncertainty in its design parameters

The number of young people getting total hip arthroplasty surgery is on the rise and studies have shown that the average number of perfect health years after such surgery is being reduced to about 9 years; this is because of complications which can lead to the failure of such implants. Consequently, such failures cause the implant not to last as long as required. The uncertainty in design parameters, loading, and even the manufacturing process of femoral stems, makes it important to consider uncertainty quantification and probabilistic modeling approaches instead of the traditional deterministic approach when designing femoral stems. This paper proposes a probabilistic analysis method which considers uncertainties in the design parameters of femoral implants to determine its effect on the implant stiffness. Accordingly, this method can be used to improve the design reliability of femoral stems. A simplified finite element model of a femoral stem was considered and analyzed both deterministically and probabilistically using Monte Carlo simulation. The results showed that uncertainties in design parameters can significantly affect the resulting stiffness of the stem. This paper proposes an approach that can be considered a potential solution for improving, in general, the reliability of hip implants and the predicted stiffness values for the femoral stems so as to better mitigate the stress shielding phenomenon.