Case Study: DePuy Spine Inc. achieves reduced facet loads and restored spinal motion with ANSYS Structural

DePuy Spine Inc. - Customer Case Study

DePuy Spine Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company and maker of the CHARITÉ™ artificial disc, needed to understand how implant placement affects facet loading and overall spinal biomechanics — a problem where traditional cadaver testing is time-consuming, expensive and often inconclusive. To tackle this challenge, DePuy turned to ANSYS and used ANSYS Structural to simulate the three-piece mobile-core disc and surrounding tissues.

Using ANSYS Structural, researchers built CT-derived finite element models with nonlinear material definitions and surface-to-surface contact elements to evaluate placement scenarios on a standard Intel workstation. The ANSYS analyses showed that the mobile-core CHARITÉ yields significantly lower strain and loads on facets compared with a fixed-core competitor, identified optimal implant positioning, and provided insights DePuy Spine Inc. is using to refine procedures and device development.

DePuy Spine Inc.

Missoum Moumene

Senior Principal Engineer Research & Development