Corrective osteotomies of mal-united fractures are among the most demanding orthopedic procedures. Osteotomies are elective procedures scheduled in advance, providing sufficient time for careful diagnosis and operative planning. For this reason, computer-based methods have become very popular to perform complex osteotomies more precisely. However, the quantification of the deformity, the development of feasible surgical procedures as well as the transfer of the preoperative plan to the operating room are still major challenges, requiring sophisticated techniques and profound clinical expertise.

With the aid of the in-house developed software (CASPA) the pathological condition can be analysed in 3D and the surgical procedure with all necessary steps can be simulated preoperatively. The preoperative plan consist of an individual analysis of the deformity and a virtual simulation of different surgical szenarios to figure out the best solution for the individual patient. By means of 3D printer technology patient specific cutting and drill guides can be produces, which are applicable during surgery. Thereby, the preoperative plan can be realized by the orthopaedics surgeons extremely accurate as planned.

Accurate analysis of the pathological condition, creation of feasible preoperative plans and precise instruments for the transfer to the surgery are essential to provide the best (surgical) treatment to the patient. The project is imbedded in the enlargement of the research space in close collaboration with the teams of the orthopaedics department of the Balgrist University Hospital, the CARD Team and the Computer Vision Laboratory at the ETH Zurich.

The opportunity for realtime exchance between the highly specialized orthopaedic surgeons and the team of engineers offers the best prerequesits for the ideal combination of clinical and technical expertice for real patient specific orthopaedics. The quantification of the orthopaedic prodecures in terms of accuracy evaluation is thereby a crucial step towards acchieveing the ultimative goal of best treatment of the patients.

In the last years the innovative combination of 3D preoperative plan and 3D printer technology has been adapted for several pathologies and applied for the treatment of more than > 250 complex orthopaedic procedures on almost every anatomy (forearm, humerus, pelvis, femur, tibia, foot, tumor) with promising results at the Balgrist University Hospital. One advantage is that the surgeries are performed more precisely than at the time of freehand procedures. On the other hand the technology even enabled to perform surgeries, which even in the hand of an experienced orthopaedics surgeons would not have been possible before.

The patients treated with this advanced technology immediately benefit from the individualized and optimal treatment of their pathological condition. The best solution for the individual patient can be figured out and the surgical procedure can be customized to the specific need of each individual patient. In addition the orthopaedic surgeons are able to illustrate the deformity to the patient with the use of 3D visualization more precisely and go through all relevant steps from the preoperative planning, the surgical procedure, the postoperative rehabilitation and the expected final result.