M. Viceconti et al., A SOFTWARE SIMULATION OF TIBIAL FRACTURE REDUCTION WITH EXTERNAL FIXATOR, Computer methods and programs in biomedicine, 40(2), 1993, pp. 89-94
In modern orthopaedic practice, circular external fixators are frequen
tly preferred to plaster cast for various reasons. The realignment of
the two fractured bone segments is usally performed under a continuous
fluoroscopy checking which involves a long radiation exposure time fo
r both patients and surgeon. In order to overcome this problem, a comp
uter controlled external fixator is under development. One relevant pr
oblem which this project faced in its initial stage was the difficulty
to define in geometrical terms the manual reduction trajectory normal
ly adopted by the surgeon. Basically it was a typical problem of empir
ical knowledge transfer from the surgeon to the engineer. Thus, it was
necessary to create a common ground where the two experts could carry
out the necessary analyses in order to define an empirical algorithm
capable of suggesting a correction trajectory. The problem was solved
by developing a simulation program called S.E.R.F. (Simulation Environ
ment of a Robotic Fixator) provided with an extremely powerful graphic
output, able to visualize the whole reduction trajectory from any vie
wpoint in space. The authors suggest the use of this kind of tool ever
y time the techno-clinical information exchange is a critical issue.