Introduction:

The initial treatment of cervicalgia due to degeneration of the intervertebral discs is conservative, but in case of failure, discectomy is the usual surgical option, replacing the disc with a bone graft or another structure that fully or partially fulfills the functions of the former. The Neurosurgery Service of the Camilo Cienfuegos General Hospital in Cuba has designed a new cervical intervertebral disc prosthesis model to treat this disease.

Objective:

To evaluate the mechanical performance of the prosthesis designed through the finite element method under the usual loads of the cervical spine. Material and Methods: An experimental study was carried out using numerical simulation according to the finite element method, subjecting the prosthesis to the axial loads recommended by ASTM F2423-11e ISO 18192-1.2011 standards using Free CAD 0.18 software.

Results:

The greatest efforts supported by the prosthesis in the neutral position, anterior flexion and lateral flexion were 28.79 MPa, 52.29 MPa and 55.59 MPa, respectively. The prosthesis did not suffer any fracture as it did not exceed the values ​prior to the elastic limit of the material that constitutes it. The greatest deformation described was 1 μm.

Conclusions:

The highest concentration of efforts in the prosthesis was located at the point of contact of the prismatic cavity of the upper part when making contact with the prism of the lower part. The designed device did not undergo any significant deformation or fracture at the applied loads.

        · resumo em Espanhol     · texto em Espanhol     · Espanhol ( pdf )