Cylindrical depth image based customized helical bone plate design

• Published in: Medical engineering & physics Vol. 129; p. 104187
• Main Authors: Seo, Udeok, Choi, Yoo-Joo, Kim, Ku-Jin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Elsevier Ltd 01.07.2024
• Subjects: 3D printing; Algorithms; Bone Plates; Boolean operation; Customized helical bone plate; Cylindrical depth image; Equipment Design; Femur - diagnostic imaging; Fracture fixation; Humans; Implant design; Printing, Three-Dimensional; Prosthesis Design; Fracture fixation; Boolean operation; Cylindrical depth image; Implant design; Customized helical bone plate; 3D printing
• ISSN: 1350-4533; 1873-4030; 1873-4030
• DOI: 10.1016/j.medengphy.2024.104187

Commercial straight metal plates have been generally used to fix fractured bones, but recently, the need for customized and helical metal plates has emerged. Customized metal plates are designed to fit the shape of the fracture area that is a 3D curved surface, making it more difficult than designing on a 2D plane. Helical plates are researched due to their advantage in avoiding blood vessel damage compared to commercially available straight metal plates. In this paper, we propose a novel algorithm to design a customized helical metal plate for the femur using cylindrical depth images and Boolean operations. We also present the results of 3D printing a metal plate designed using the proposed algorithm, and the shape matching is verified by calculating the minimum distance between the surface of the printed plate and the surface of the femur. •We present a novel approach to design customized helical metal plates.•The designed plates are used for fixing the fracture of femur by 3D printing.•The concept of the cylindrical depth image is proposed.•For designing 3D helical plates, we use Boolean operations on a 2D plane.•Our algorithm supports the interactive-time designing of customized helical plates.