A stochastic bone remodeling process

The present study describes bone remodeling simulations at a microscopic level based on a stochastic model. According to the theories of Frost [1], such a remodeling process takes place in circumscribed areas called bone multicellular units ( BMUs). A BMU-level process is described taking into account the number of BMUs working on the trabecular bone surface, but it differs from other works [6] in that the probability of activating a BMU is not purely random. More precisely, locations for BMUs to be activated are chosen randomly on the trabecular bone surface restricted to sites expressing a local activation force up to a given threshold. Such a constraint, inspired by a model described in [12], will allow the presence of micro-cracks and damage, assumed to occur randomly, as well as the age of last bone formation to be taken into account. Implementations have been run for two dimensional simple images. Such a model will be extended to more realistic three dimensional images with the aim of calculating and validating classical 3D micro-architectural parameters.