Significantly reducing the presurgical preparation time for anterior pelvic fracture surgery by faster creating patient-specific curved plates

Background: To shorten the preoperative preparation time, reconstruction plates were designed using the computed tomography (CT)-based three-dimensional (3D) medical imaging surgical planning software OOOPDS. In addition, 3D printing was used to generate curved plates for anterior pelvic fracture surgeries.

Methods: This study analyzed two groups with the same 21 patients who underwent surgery for traumatic anterior pelvic ring fractures. In Group 1, the direct reconstruction plates were preoperatively contoured according to the anatomical 3D-printed pelvic model. In Group 2, the fixation plates were contoured according to the 3D printed plate templates, which were created based on the simulated plate templates by the OOOPDS software. The processing time, including the 3D printing time for the pelvic models in Group 1, the 3D printing time for the fixation plate templates in Group 2, and the pre-contouring time for the plates in both groups, was recorded.

Results: The mean time of pre-contouring for the curved reconstruction plates in Group 2 was significantly less than in Group 1 (-55 min; P < 0.01). The mean time of 3D printing for the 3D plate template model in Group 2 was significantly less than that for the 3D pelvic model in Group 1 (-869 min; P < 0.01). Experimental results showed that the printing time for the plate pre-contouring and the 3D plate templates could be effectively reduced by approximately 93% and 90%, respectively.

Conclusion: This method can shorten the preoperative preparation time significantly.