A morphological study of anatomical plates for acetabular posterior column

Abstract

Purposes

   The objective of this work is to explore the morphological characteristics of the acetabular posterior column using digital technology, in order to develop anatomical plates for internal fixation of acetabular posterior column fractures.

Materials and methods

   Three-dimensional reconstruction models of the pelvis were developed from computed tomography scan data of 111 adult patients. From them, the diameter (D) of the femoral head, three approximate arcs along the acetabular posterior column plate path with corresponding radius of curvature $\hbox {R}_{1}, \hbox {R}_{2}$ and $\hbox {R}_{3}$, as well as an angle $\alpha$ were measured. A statistical analysis was used to determine the most feasible method of designing anatomical plates according to the data.

Results

   The statistical analysis results showed that $\hbox {R}_{1}, \hbox {R}_{2}$ and $\hbox {R}_{3}$ had no correlations with D, and they also exhibited no statistically significant differences between genders. By examining the correlations between four morphological parameters of the acetabular posterior column, the results showed $\hbox {R}_{2}$ increased along with $\hbox {R}_{1}, \alpha$ was inversely proportional to $\hbox {R}_{1}$ and $\hbox {R}_{2}$, and $\hbox {R}_{3}$ was independent with little variation. Taking $\hbox {R}_{1}$ as the reference, the data were divided into three groups and three types of anatomical plates were designed according to the three groups of data.

Conclusion

   The anatomical structure of the acetabular posterior column exhibits great individual differences. Anatomical plates designed in this study have higher accuracy than those conventional ones, which is helpful to the quality of fracture reduction and reduce the operation difficult. Meanwhile, they also can be conveniently used in clinic.