Engineering: Maths against osteoporosis

 

New computer simulations help predict risk of fractures.

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Engineers have collaborated to produce an accurate analysis of inner-bone microstructure in an effort to confront the effects of osteoporosis.

Researchers from the ETH Zurich Departments of Mechanical and Process Engineering, and supercomputing experts from IBM's Zurich Research Laboratory, have started work on the project, which involves the simulation of the mechanics of inner-bone structure.

Using the technique, the engineers were able to produce a dynamic ‘heat map’ outlining key points of strain which come into play when the bone is in action. This shows the most likely point at which a fracture will occur.

Speaking about the development, Dr Costas Bekas of IBM's Computational Sciences team said: "With that knowledge, a clinician can also detect osteoporotic damage more precisely and, by adjusting a surgical plate appropriately, can best determine the location of the damage… This work is an excellent showcase of the dramatic potential that supercomputers can have for our everyday lives."

The team used an 8-rack Blue Gene/L supercomputer to examine a 5 x 5 mm specimen of bone, producing 90 Gigabytes of output data within 20 minutes.

"It is this combination of increased speed and size that will allow solving clinically relevant cases in acceptable time and unprecedented detail," added Professor Ralph Müller, Director of the ETH Zurich Institute for Biomechanics. 

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