Fernando J. Quevedo González, PhD

Dr. Quevedo González received his bachelor’s degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and his MSc in Biomedical Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia, both in Spain. After completing his PhD at École de Technologie Supérieure, in Montreal, Canada, he joined HSS in 2016 as a postdoctoral fellow. He has been a Scientist at HSS since 2021, where he is specialized in computational modeling of joint replacements through finite element analysis.

His early research focused on optimizing implant design using 3D printed metallic porous materials. Using computational finite element models of porous materials that included manufacturing irregularities, he locally optimized the elastic modulus for the femoral stem of a total hip replacement to create a non-homogeneous implant that maximized the likelihood of bone ingrowth and minimized stress shielding. At HSS, where he has been mentored by Dr. Timothy Wright and Mr. Joe Lipman, he applied his expertise in implant design optimization to develop a 3D printed cementless tibial baseplate that has been implanted in over one thousand patients, and an implant for arthroplasty of the carpometacarpal joint.

Dr. Quevedo González’s research tackles the most significant biomechanical problems in joint replacements by combining computational modeling and cadaveric testing to understand how implant choice, surgical technique, and patient factors can influence the longevity of joint replacements. His research in the knee is focused on quantifying and predicting the bone-implant interaction after joint replacement. He combined joint forces measured in vivo with patient-specific finite element models from preoperative CT-scans to highlight the importance of studying entire activity cycles to capture worst-case scenarios for such bone-implant interaction.

More recently, Dr. Quevedo González’s team has created patient-specific computational workflows that connect the joint mechanics (kinematics and kinetics) to fixation mechanics to holistically analyze knee arthroplasty biomechanics. In the hip Dr. Quevedo González’s team utilizes computational modeling and cadaveric testing to quantify the contribution of soft tissues to resisting hip dislocation, as well as patient-specific computational modeling to understand the risk factors for periprosthetic femoral fracture.

Dr. Quevedo González is a member of the Orthopaedic Research Society, the International Society for Technology in Arthroplasty, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, the American Association of Hip and Knee Surgeons.

Research

Understanding how preoperative bone density and joint loading affect postoperative biomechanics of total knee arthroplasty
(Team: Jonathan Vigdorchik MD, David Mayman MD, Peter Sculco MD, Cynthia Kahlenberg MD, Eytan Debbi MD PhD, Tracy Borsinger MD, Emily Stein MD, Jonathan Glenday PhD, Ryan Helbock MS, Joseph Lipman MS, Timothy Wright PhD)

The most common reasons for failure of total knee arthroplasty components have biomechanical origin. Several factors impair our ability to avoid such mechanical failures: first, current biomechanical analyses are focused on specific aspects of joint biomechanics, like kinematics, kinetics, or fixation, and do not analyze the joint as a whole; second, while the knee biomechanics are dominated by the joint loads, measuring joint loads requires a specialized, costly, and time-consuming analysis in a dedicated motion analysis laboratory that is impractical for routine use in clinical practice; and third, while the bone quality (e.g., density) determines the mechanical support it can provide to the implant, we lack established relationships between bone quality and postoperative implant mechanics.

One main effort from Dr. Quevedo González’s team to address these shortcomings is to develop patient-specific computational models that holistically analyze the knee, connecting the joint mechanics with fixation mechanics by combining multibody musculoskeletal models that can quantify the joint forces and kinematics with finite element models, developed from CT-scans of patients, to quantify the bone-implant interaction.

A second main effort from his team is to obtain surrogate metrics of dynamic knee joint loads that can be integrated into the routine clinical workflow. Dr. Quevedo’s team is combining radiographic images with synchronized force plate measurements to determine the static knee adduction moment in a setting that can be utilized in routine clinical practice and comparing these static measurements to dynamic measurements obtained at the Hospital’s motion analysis laboratory.

A third main effort from Dr. Quevedo González’s team is to obtain bone density and quality measurements in total knee arthroplasty patients and relate these to the postoperative changes in implant position relative to the bone (i.e., migration). Dr. Quevedo’s team is seeking to define rules that, based on a patient’s bone density, can guide surgical decisions in terms of the type of fixation to use (cementless or cemented) and the appropriate component alignment.

Understanding periprosthetic fractures of the femur after total hip arthroplasty
(Team: Elizabeth Gausden MD, Peter Sculco PhD, Simarjeet Puri MD, Jonathan Vigdorchik MD, Ryan Helbock MS, Joseph Liman MS, Timothy Wright PhD)

Periprosthetic femoral fractures around cementless stems in total hip arthroplasty (THA) are the second most common reason for failure of primary THA. However, the biomechanical reasons that cause fracture remain poorly understood. Dr. Quevedo’s team is combining patient-specific finite element modeling of cases that suffered periprosthetic fracture and matched controls that did not fracture with experimental testing to unveil the fundamental biomechanics of periprosthetic femoral fracture. His initial results show that patients with lower bone density around the proximal aspect of the implant are at higher risk of developing large strains in the bone, which could lead to fracture. Furthermore, his results show that, while adding a collar to the stem to prevent its subsidence can help most patients, in select cases the collar can be detrimental to bone fracture.

Contributions of soft tissues to resisting dislocation in total hip arthroplasty    
(Team: Jose Rodriguez MD, Jennifer Bido MD, Eytan Debbi MD PhD, Kathleen Meyers MS)
Dislocation remains one of the main concerns in total hip arthroplasty. While much of the research has focused on avoiding impingement, either bone-bone or component-component, the contributions of the soft tissues to resisting dislocation are not well studied. Dr. Quevedo Gonzalez’s team is utilizing a six degree-of-freedom robotic manipulator to test cadaveric hips after total hip arthroplasty at the extremes of their range of motion to determine the contribution of the different capsular ligaments to resisting hip dislocation. 

Appointments

Education

University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Las Palmas de G.C., Spain    BS    12/2010    Industrial and Mechanical Engineering
Polytechnic University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain    MSc    09/2012    Biomedical Engineering
École de technologie supérieure, Montréal, Canada    PhD    06/2016    Biomechanics
Hospital for Special Surgery, New York, USA    Postdoctoral fellow    07/2019    Biomechanics
 

Awards

2021    HSS Fellow’s Research Day Best Presentation Award
2020    CAMS Knee Best Podium Presentation
2020    ISTA Best Podium Presentation
2017    Mary Rodgers and Henry Guettel Fellowship in Biomedical Mechanics, Hospital for Special Surgery
2016    Canadian Governor General’s gold medal of academic excellence, École de technologie supérieure
2010    BS awarded with honors, University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria

Languages

English

Selected Journal Articles

Quevedo González F, Sculco PK, Kahlenberg CA, Mayman DJ, Lipman JD, Wright T, Vigdorchik JM. Undersizing the tibial baseplate in cementless TKA has only small impact on bone-implant interactions: a finite element biomechanical study. J Arthroplasty. 2023;38:757-762

Glenday J, Wright T, Lipman J, Sculco P, Mayman D, Vigdorchik J, Quevedo González F. Effect of varus alignment on the bone-implant interaction of a cementless tibial baseplate during gait. J Orthop Res. 2022;40:816-825

Quevedo González FJ, Meyers KN, Schraut N, Mehrotra KG, Lipman JD, Wright TM, Ast MP. Do metaphyseal cones and stems provide any biomechanical advantage for moderate contained tibial defects in revision TKA? A finite-element analysis based on a cadaver model. Clin Orthop Relat Res. 2021;479:2534-2546.

Debbi EM, Quevedo González FJ, Jerabek SA, Wright TM, Vigdorchik JM. Three-dimensional functional impingement in total hip arthroplasty: a biomechanical analysis. J Arthroplasty. 2022;37:S678-S684

Quevedo González F, Lo D, Lipman J, DeMartino I, Sculco P, Sculco T, Catani F, Wright T. Mechanical performance of total knee replacements: it is not all about the maximum loads. J Orthop Res. 2018;37(2):350-357

For more publications, please see the PubMed listing.

Selected Books/Chapters

Wright TM, Quevedo González FJ. Biomechanics of the natural and replaced knee. The Adult Knee v2. Rubash Eds.

Selected Presentations

Quevedo González F, Lipman J, Lo D, Daluiski A, Hotchkiss R, Wright T, 2019. Implant design optimization applied to the carpometacarpal joint of the thumb. BMES/FDA Conference in Frontiers in Medical Devices, College Park, MD

Quevedo González F, Steineman B, Sturnick D, Demetracopoulos C, Wright T, 2019. Effect of the fixation of total ankle replacements on the burden placed on the bone-implant system. 16th International Symposium on Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering, New York, NY

Quevedo González F, Fattori A, Lipman J, Del Negro N, Brial C, Figgie M, Hotchkiss R, Pressacco M, Wright T, 2019. Constraint Profile and Polyethylene Stresses of Three Modern Total Elbow Replacements. 32nd International Society for Technology in Arthroplasty, Toronto, Canada

Quevedo González F, Steineman B, Sturnick D, Demetracopoulos C, Deland J, Wright, T, 2020. Effects of tibial fixation design on bone-implant micromotion in total ankle replacements. Summer Biomechanics, Bioengineering, and Biotransport Conference

Glenday JD, Quevedo González FJ, Wright TM, Lipman JD, Sculco PK, Vigdorchik JM, 2020. Effect of varus alignment on the bone-implant interaction of cementless tibial baseplates. 1st ISTA New Early-career Webinar Series.