Fig. 1.

Study overview. Fifty-seven metastatic vertebral bodies (A) were scanned with μCT (B). Based on CT images, metastatic regions were identified (C). Nanoindentation measurements (D) were performed on a subset of 12 samples. The remaining 45 samples were compressed to failure in the laboratory with a testing setup allowing the free collapse of the vertebral body thanks to a ball joint (E). The image data from the same sample subset was processed to generate micro finite element models (F) and, after coarsening to clinical resolution, homogenized finite element models (G). Finally, the micro-mechanical parameters were analysed and the in silico results were compared to the experimental data. The colours in (C) correspond to non-involved (gray), lytic (red) and blastic (black) areas. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)