3D Printed Patient-Specific Acetabular Jig for Cup Placement in Total Hip Arthroplasty

Acetabular cup placement is an important modifiable factor determining complication rates like aseptic loosening and hip dislocation related to faulty cup placement, which by standard method is largely dependent upon eyeballing and surgeon's judgment. We evaluated a self-designed, low-cost, patient-specific acetabular jig to guide cup placement in total hip arthroplasty in comparison to conventional technique.

It was a prospective randomized control study. Thirty-six patients were categorized into group-A & group-B. In group-A, virtually designed acetabular jig was 3 Dimensional (3D) printed and used intra-operatively to guide cup placement. In group-B, the standard method of cup placement was used. Acetabular cup placement was evaluated on post-operative x-rays and compared between two groups.

In group-A, angle of anteversion were significantly in centre of range of safe zone as compared to group B in which hip is maximally stable with more precision in creating hip centre as compared to group-B without any significant(p = 0.325) increase in surgical time or blood loss.

Computed tomography (CT) scan based virtual pre-operative templating and cup placement guided by virtually designed, patient-specific acetabular jig is a low-cost tool with a short learning curve which can be designed and made available easily. It is a useful tool in decreasing chances of malpositioning of cup and recreates hip centre close to anatomical one especially in cases where anatomy has been distorted such as bony ankylosis and developmental dysplasia of hip.