Virtual pre-operative planning in acetabular surgery using a patient-specific biomechanical model: a prospective clinical study

International audienceThe first patient-specific biomechanical model for pre-operative planning in acetabular surgery was developed in our institution and validated in previous retrospective studies. The aim of this prospective clinical study was to confirm the previous promising. Between January 2019 and June 2019, every patients operated by the first author for acetabular fracture were included in this prospective study. A biomechanical model was implemented in acustom software made from combination of several open-sources software allowing a biomechanical simulation. The surgery was then performed according to the simulation. Surgery duration, blood loss, radiological results and peroperative complications were recorded. Ten patients were included. Mean simulation time was 22 min ± 4 [range, 18-31]. The mean operative time was 113 min ± 33 [range, 60-180] and mean blood loss was 505 mL ± 189 [range, 100-750]. On Matta's criteria, anatomic reduction was achieved in 9 of the 10 patients (90%; 0.8 mm ± 1 [range, 0-3]). No per-operative complications were recorded. This study confirms the promising results of pre-operative planning in acetabular surgery based on a patient-specific biomechanical model.The model needs larger-scale prospective validation, but offers a new tool suitable for teaching purposes and for assessment of surgical strategies in acetabular fracture