Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Is templating for joint replacement possible in 3D using plain radiographs?

When I was in training one of my favorite mentors asked me if it is possible to calculate how much humeral head to resect during shoulder hemiarthroplasty or total shoulder replacement. prior to surgery as part of pre-operative planning. I found out a way to template in 3D using high quality XRs. This is for shoulder replacement but it applies to total hip replacement as well. Below are the pictures and the presentation.

The method used is based on generating 3D models using blueprints. We used orthogonal xrays of the humeral head as blueprints to calculate the size of the resected humeral head.