Associate Professor Purdue University West Lafayette, Indiana
The lecture describes the clinical application of Computer-Assisted Three-dimensional Surgical Planning (CASP) and three-dimensional (3D) printing in fracture repairs. Three-dimensional printing or additive manufacturing, previously known as rapid prototyping, is becoming increasingly popular in veterinary medicine as a method of reproducing bone replicas for management of orthopedic cases (references). In addition, 3D computer-assisted surgical planning (CASP) has many clinical applications in reconstructive surgery in human and veterinary surgery. By comparing with traditional planning for fracture fixation based on orthogonal radiographs, the lecture describes the process of the 3D CASP from segmenting main fragments to virtual reduction and implantation. This lecture presents the use of CASP and 3D printing to aid the anatomical reconstruction of articular/juxta-articular fractures and minimally invasive osteosynthesis of the long bones. Additionally, practical and efficient use of 3D printing and CASP will be presented, while a long printing time is considered the drawback of 3D printing for fracture management.