Bound Volume Number
X
Degree Type
Honors Capstone Project
Date of Submission
Spring 5-5-2015
Capstone Advisor
Prof. Kenneth A. Mann
Honors Reader
Prof. James H. Henderson
Capstone Major
Biomedical and Chemical Engineering
Capstone College
Engineering and Computer Science
Audio/Visual Component
no
Keywords
radiotherapy, cancer, bone density
Capstone Prize Winner
no
Won Capstone Funding
no
Honors Categories
Sciences and Engineering
Subject Categories
Other Analytical, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Techniques and Equipment
Abstract
Cancer is a prevalent and diverse disease affecting fourteen million people in the United Sates alone. While some cancers can be treated effectively with one-time operations such as surgery, other cancers require more persistent treatments, commonly chemotherapy and radiation. These latter two treatments can have extreme side-effects and long-term ramifications. One long-term side effect of radiation therapy is a higher incidence of insufficiency fractures in bones of the skeleton. The mechanism responsible for this apparent weakness in bone is not well understood. In order to quantify changes in ductility following radiation therapy, femora from mice treated with 20 Gy radiation (with contralateral control) were subjected to three-point bend fracture toughness testing. A novel device for introducing a notch to the bones is presented in this study. Initiation fracture toughness was found to decrease 29% in irradiated bone compared to controls (p=.03). No significant difference was found in critical toughness or r-curve slope between control and irradiated bone. These results suggest that radiative therapy causes increased brittleness in cortical bone and could explain the increased incidence of fracture in patients treated with radiotherapy.
Recommended Citation
Brady, Lynda Marie, "Fracture Toughness of Irradiated Bone in a Murine Model" (2015). Renée Crown University Honors Thesis Projects - All. 897.
https://surface.syr.edu/honors_capstone/897
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
