A computed tomography based orthopedic surgery planning solution

Abstract

The advances in medical imaging technologies and computer science have enabled the development of computer-assisted planning systems to improve the efficiency and accuracy of the interventions. To ensure the surgery success, the surgeon needs to be able to carefully analyze the patient’s condition. Each patient is a specific case and different from any other. This is not always easy to accomplish. In this paper, we present a 3D-based solution and its implementation as an OsiriX plugin for orthopedic surgery planning. With the developed plugin, the surgeon is able to manipulate a three-dimensional isosurface rendered from the selected imaging study (a CT scan). He can add digital representations of physical implants (surgical templates), in order to evaluate the feasibility of his planning. These templates are STL files generated from CAD models. He has also the possibility to extract new isosurfaces of different Hounsfield unit (HU) values, and slice the final 3D model according to a predefined plane, enabling a 2D analysis of the planned solution. Finally, we discuss how the proposed application assists the surgeon in the planning process in a more suitable way, where he can three-dimensionally analyze the impact of his surgical intervention on the patient.