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Leuven, Belgium / Boston, Mass. - September 9, 2010. Materialise announced today that it would lend its considerable expertise in virtual surgical planning to researcher Dr. J. B. Jupiter, Chief Hand and Upper Extremity Service at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Jupiter, through an AO funded and IRB approved study, will explore computer-assisted surgery and the advantages offered by virtual 3D planning and the construction and intra-operative use of patient-specific surgical guides. Using the SurgiCase Orthopaedics solution from Materialise, Dr. Jupiter will determine its effectiveness on osteotomies of patients suffering from malunited distal radius (compound wrist) fractures. It’s the first research project of its kind. 

Previous studies have proven a link between the quality of corrective surgery and the overall, post-operative wrist function. The challenge to the surgeon performing this operation is that the anatomical deformity associated with compound wrist fractures is not only complex, but difficult to visualize via standard, single-plane X-ray technology. Introducing 3D computer models obtained from CT-scanned images has helped doctors map the multiple planes of deformity, but are only useful during an operation as a reference.

Can the technology revolutionized by Materialise play a more determinative role in the surgical outcome? To find out, Dr. Jupiter has designed a randomized, multi-center trial of two groups of patients. All will be 18 years or older, injured at least three months prior to the trial and undergoing elective surgery to correct symptomatic, malunited extra-articular distal radius fractures. Surgical planning for the control group will be done through conventional methods, i.e. simple radiographic views of the malunion, which is the current standard of care. Planning for the second (study) group will be computer-assisted.

That’s where Dr. Jupiter intends to rely extensively on SurgiCase Orthopaedics. The first step will be to obtain CT images of both a malunited and a contralateral normal forearm. Once completed, the images will be exported to Materialise, where clinical engineers will convert the images to a 3D model and work with the surgeon to define the surgical plan. The model will make it easy to try out different approaches, allowing the surgeon to optimize a surgical plan for the individual patient.

With the plan in place, the next step will be building surgical guides that carry the pre-surgical plan into the operating room. Custom-designed by Materialise to fit the patient’s anatomy, these guides will ensure the highest possible precision in drilling and cutting. The guide is constructed to fit a specific location on the patient’s bone and contain the exact positioning for the osteotomy and drill holes of the affixing plate.

Once the surgeries are completed, each patient will follow standardized protocols for post-op care. Outcome measurements will be evaluated under acceptable standards by the treating physician at regular intervals during a 1 year period.

Assisting Dr. Jupiter in the research will be Natalie Leong, MSC, Filip Stockmans, MD and Geert Buijze, MD.