• Hamed Yousefiroshan is with the Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
• S.S. Hosseini Yazdi is with the Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada
• S. Ghazizadeh is with the Biomedical Engineering Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

Osteosarcoma is a common bone tumor in dogs. The common treatment is limb amputation, hence an appropriate prosthetic for locomotion is necessary. Current solutions and notable complications include metallic endoprosthesis (radius or metacarpal bone fracture, screw loosening, plate breakage), autografts (inadequate integration, limited donor sites, donor-acquired morbidity), allografts (infection, fracture, risk of disease transmission, and potential host rejection), cell therapy (the cost, time of treatment and size of regenerated bone).

Different 3D printable filaments with mixture ratios of Titanium (0% to 18%) and Poly Lactic Acid (PLA) (100% to 82%) were considered according to the biomechanical properties of the radius of small, medium, and large breeds of dogs. Customized virtual prosthetics were modeled based on dogs’ medical images. Ends of the prosthetics were provided with a matrix for a growth factor injection to stimulate stem cell propagation and to eliminate screw implantations. Finite Element Analysis (FEA) were performed to assess the implants under the biomechanical loads; maximum stress, maximum strain and buckling safety factor parameters were analyzed.

The simulations show that the proposed implant offers similar biomechanical characteristics to that of a healthy radius and better than a recently clinically tested customized metallic implant. Contours of deformation, stress distribution patterns and buckling safety factors obtained from FEA results share similar trends compared to a healthy radius.

This work serves as a proof-of-concept for a reliable novel prosthetic to treat dogs’ osteosarcoma that is primarily bioresorbable and feasible via 3D printing technology and cell therapy.