Comparative Analysis of Porous Titanium Spinal Cage with Conventional Spinal Cages: A Finite Element Study

Abstract

The objective of this study is to compare the stress shielding effect of various conventional as well as modified additive manufactured porous materials used for spinal cages. A finite element study was performed by changing the design (fully porous and hybrid) and the materials (PEEK, CFR-PEEK, Titanium) of spinal cages. All the models were simulated under uniaxial compression, to study the stress shielding effect. The Finite Element Analysis results showed that the hybrid spinal cage transfers more stress to its adjacent vertebrae than the other design configurations under uniaxial compression. The hybrid titanium cage was most effective in reducing the stress shielding effect. The hybrid cage is stronger than PEEK & CFR-PEEK cages, however, due to the porous structure reduced stress shielding was observed.