---
title: Ex-Vivo Biomechanical Study Published in NASSJ
description: Ex-Vivo Biomechanical Study Published in NASSJ
---

[News & Insights | OptimalPSI](https://optimalpsi.com/news)

# [Ex-Vivo Biomechanical Study Published in NASSJ](https://optimalpsi.com/news/ex-vivo-biomechanical-study-published)

 Written by [Dr. Thijs Smit](https://optimalpsi.com/news/author/dr-thijs-smit) | Jul 26, 2026, 10:57:12 AM

Basel, Switzerland — Our ex-vivo biomechanical study has been published in the North American Spine Society Journal (NASSJ), confirming what our computational models predicted: patient-specific optimized implants resist subsidence at roughly twice the failure force of off-the-shelf cages.

The study, conducted with human cadaveric specimens in collaboration with ETH Zürich's Laboratory for Orthopaedic Technology, compared OptimalPSI's topology-optimized TLIF implants against standard off-the-shelf cages under controlled mechanical loading. The optimized implants demonstrated approximately two times higher resistance to subsidence, with the difference reaching statistical significance (p = 0.03).

Reference: Du, X., Smit, T., Rubin, W., Cheruparambil, C., Shah, R., Haschtmann, D., Helgason, B., Ferguson, S. J. (2026). Ex-vivo mechanical evaluation of anatomically and mechanically conforming patient-specific spinal fusion cages designed by full-scale topology optimization. NASSJ, 26, 100890.

[View full post](https://optimalpsi.com/news/ex-vivo-biomechanical-study-published)

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