Femoral fracture reduction with a parallel manipulator robot on a traction table

Background A parallel manipulator robot (PMR) on a traction table was developed to achieve better alignment of a fractured femur and reduce radiation exposure to both patients and physicians. Methods A PMR was built with a disk platform and a two‐thirds circular ring. Fracture reductions were performed on eight artificially broken sawbone models and a cadaveric model. Fracture reduction was achieved using six degrees of freedom (6‐DOF) movements of the two‐thirds circular ring, while the PMR disk platform and the proximal femur remained stationary. Results Axial discrepancy, lateral translation and angulation had mean errors of 1.31 ± 0.45, 2.43 ± 0.49 and 2.26 ± 0.23 mm, respectively, when coarse adjustment was used. For the fine adjustment step, the mean errors were 0.63 ± 0.19 mm for axial discrepancy and 0.75 ± 0.26 mm for lateral translation. Conclusion Femoral shaft fracture reduction with PMR on a traction table is a feasible and accurate approach to fracture reduction. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.