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Patient‐specific computational biomechanics for simulating adolescent scoliosis surgery: Predicted vs clinical correction for a preliminary series of six patients
Author(s) -
Little J. Paige,
Adam Clayton
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
international journal for numerical methods in biomedical engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.741
H-Index - 63
eISSN - 2040-7947
pISSN - 2040-7939
DOI - 10.1002/cnm.1422
Subject(s) - scoliosis , cobb angle , spinal deformity , deformity , spinal surgery , soft tissue , biomechanics , surgery , cobb , medicine , orthodontics , corrective surgery , anatomy , genetics , biology
Scoliosis is a spinal deformity that requires surgical correction in progressive cases. In order to optimize surgery outcomes, patient‐specific finite element models are being developed by our group. In this paper, a single rod anterior correction procedure is simulated for a group of six scoliosis patients. For each patient, personalized model geometry was derived from low‐dose CT scans, and clinically measured intra‐operative corrective forces were applied. However, tissue material properties were not patient‐specific, being derived from existing literature. Clinically, the patient group had a mean initial Cobb angle of 47.3 ∘ , which was corrected to 17.5 ∘ after surgery. The mean simulated post‐operative Cobb angle for the group was 18.1 ∘ . Although this represents good agreement between clinical and simulated corrections, the discrepancy between clinical and simulated Cobb angle for individual patients varied between − 10.3 and + 8.6 ∘ , with only three of the six patients matching the clinical result to within accepted Cobb measurement error of ±5 ∘ . The results of this study suggest that spinal tissue material properties play an important role in governing the correction obtained during surgery, and that patient‐specific modelling approaches must address the question of how to prescribe patient‐specific soft tissue properties for spine surgery simulation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.