Effect of freeze-drying and gamma irradiation on the mechanical properties of human cancellous bone

Freeze‐drying and gamma irradiation are commonly used for preservation and sterilization in bone banking. The cumulative effects of preparation and sterilization of cancellous graft material have not been adequately studied, despite the clinical importance of graft material in orthopaedic surgery. Taking benefit from the symmetry of the left and right femoral heads, the influence of lipid extraction followed by freeze‐drying of a femoral head and a final 25‐kGy gamma irradiation was determined, with the nonirradiated, nonprocessed counterpart as the control. Five hundred and fifty‐six compression tests were performed (137 pairs for the first treatment and 141 pairs for the second). Mechanical tests were performed after 30 minutes of rehydration in saline solution. Freeze‐dried femoral heads that had undergone lipid extraction experienced reductions of 18.9 and 20.2% in ultimate strength and stiffness, respectively. Unexpectedly, the work to failure did not decrease after this treatment. The addition of gamma irradiation resulted in a mean drop of 42.5% in ultimate strength. Stiffness of the processed bone was not modified by the final irradiation, with an insignificant drop of 24%, whereas work to failure was reduced by a mean of 71.8%. Freeze‐dried bone was a bit less strong and stiff than its frozen control. Its work to failure was not reduced, due to more deformation in the nonlinear domain, and it was not brittle after 30 minutes of rehydration. Final irradiation of the freeze‐dried bone weakened its mechanical resistance, namely by the loss of its capacity to absorb the energy (in a plastic way) and a subsequent greater brittleness.