Pediatric Lumbar Pedicle Screw Placement Using Navigation Templates: A Cadaveric Study

Pedicle screw technique is commonly used treatment of adult spinal trauma, tumor, degeneration. The application of pedicle screws is very challenging in children because children have a fast growing spine and spinal pedicle morphology of children and adult has large difference. 3 D reconstruction individual navigation templates improve the success rate of pediatric pedicle screw system. This study is aimed to provide a precise method for lumbar spine pedicle screw placement in children using computer-aided design and rapid prototyping technology.

Computed tomography (CT) scans of cadaver specimens of 4 children were obtained, and the raw data were reconstructed using three-dimensional reconstruction software. Pedicle screws were placed using the conventional method or by using individually designed navigation templates based on the principles of reverse engineering and rapid prototyping technology.

We evaluated the accuracy of the pedicle screws placed using the two methods by CT scan. Ten navigation templates were designed for placement of 20 lumbar pedicle screws in the navigation group, and CT scan confirmed that all the screws were placed accurately in the corresponding pedicle. Conversely, of the 20 lumbar pedicle screws placed using the conventional method, 3 screws perforated the pedicle. The findings showed that lumbar pedicle screw placement was successful using navigation templates in children.

This technique is simple, easy to master, and allows personalized screw placement, thus providing a new and feasible method for lumbar pedicle screw placement in children.