“…The occurrence of the lesion resulted in the doubling of compressive strains compared to the control vertebrae with the development of stress concentration at the dorsal aspects of the vertebrae indicating increased structural instability. Retrospective clinical studies have identified defect geometry, destruction of the pedicles, pain, age, anatomic site, lesion type, activity levels and, for thoracic vertebrae, costovertebral joint destruction, as significant risk factors for impending vertebral collapse (Bunting, 1985;Coleman and Stanley, 1994;Fidler, 1981;Taneichi et al, 1997;Weber et al, 2011). Experimental (Whealan et al, 2000;Windhagen et al, 1997Windhagen et al, , 2000 and computational (Tschirhart et al, 2004(Tschirhart et al, , 2006Whyne et al, 2001Whyne et al, , 2003 studies have further established measures of defect size and geometry, defect location within the vertebral body and bone density, to be predictors of vertebral risk of fracture.…”