Objectives
A new ultrasound‐based device is proposed to measure the patient‐specific pelvic tilt in different daily positions. The aim of this study was to assess the accuracy of this device as well as the intraobserver and interobserver precisions.
Methods
The accuracy was assessed by performing several tilt measurements with the device on a testing mechanical bench. The error was defined as the difference between the tilt measured with the device and the tilt provided by this test bench. Three physicians, a novice, an intermediate, and an expert user, were also asked to perform 10 measurements on 3 healthy volunteers with low, medium, and high body mass indices to analyze the intraobserver and interobserver precisions. These 10 measurements were performed in the standing, sitting, and supine positions.
Results
The mean accuracy of the device ± SD was 1.1° ± 0.7° (range, 0°–4.0°). The interobserver and intraobserver precisions were excellent whatever the body mass index and good to excellent according to the positions. There was no learning curve, and the time required to complete the measurements was approximately 5 minutes.
Conclusions
This study presents an accurate and precise noninvasive device for measurement of the pelvic tilt in different positions.
The orientation of the cup in Total Hip Arthroplasty plays a major role on the post- operative results. It has been considered for several decades that the cup should be oriented according to the safe zone defined by Lewinnek. However, this safe zone is not always suitable because of the inter-individual variability of the pelvic tilt during daily activities. We propose in this paper a non-invasive ultrasound based solution which can easily measure this patient specific parameter in order to thereafter otimise the cup orientation. The accuracy of this system was assessed with a specific pelvic phantom. A clinical pilot study was also performed on ten patients. The pelvic tilt was measured in three daily positions: the supine, sitting and standing positions. The average error was 1.15°±0.82°. The average pelvic tilt was -97.1°±28.6°, -46.3°±12.8° and -9.0°±8.3° for respectively the supine, the sitting and the standing positions. The high inter-individual variability of the pelvic tilt in different daily positions highlight the need to have a suitable device for the measurement of this patient specific parameter for THA. The proposed system is easy-to-use, portable and allows the pelvic tilt measurement in different positions without any additional x-ray radiation.
The usual safe zone for cup orientation in THA is not suitable for all patients, as the pelvic tilt varies with the movements of daily activities. A new Functional Safe Zone (FSZ) is proposed that considers the pelvic tilt in different positions. The aims of this study were to validate the proposed FSZ and to evaluate how the pelvic mobility impact it.We measured the pelvic tilts of 30 patients when standing, sitting and supine, using our ultrasound-based device and computed their FSZs. The FSZs accuracy was assessed using a Computer-Aided-Design (CAD) software. The pelvic mobility influence onto the FSZ was assessed by jointly analysing the patients’ FSZs and their pelvic tilt difference between positions.The true FSZ provided by the CAD software and the estimated FSZ were similar by 92% and differed by less than 0.5◦ at borders and at the mean orientation. Patients with stiff pelvic mobility obtained small FSZs, and conversely, patients with large pelvic tilt variations between positions obtained large FSZs.The proposed method allows the computation of a patient-specific FSZ without requir- ing additional X-ray or CT images. Patients having a low pelvic mobility with a higher risk of postoperative instability could be better managed using this FSZ.
The cup orientation plays a major role in the long-term implant stability following Total Hip Arthroplasty (THA). Because of the patient specific spine-hip kinematics, the safe zone introduced by Lewinnek is more and more controversial. Several solutions have been recently developed to take into account such parameter for THA but are all either invasive, difficult to use or expensive. A non-invasive ultrasound (US) based device has been recently proposed which allows the acquisition of the pelvic tilt in different daily positions. The goal of this study is to analyze the in-vivo intra and inter-observer precision of this device. Measurements were realized by three physicians on three healthy subjects having a low, medium and high Body Mass Index (BMI). Among the three physicians, there were an expert, an intermediate, and a novice user. For each subject, the pelvic tilt was measured ten times by the three physicians in the supine, standing and sitting positions. The inter and intra-observer precisions have been analyzed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and according to the BMI, the positions and the user expertise level. The inter-observer precision was therefore excellent whatever the BMI. It was also excellent regarding the supine and the sitting positions and good concerning the standing position. The in-vivo intra-observer precision was excellent for all measurements and whatever the user’s expertise, the BMI and the positions. This study shows therefore that the precision of our system meets the clinical requirement. Introduction
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