CAD-based automatic modelling of customized cutting templates for Pectus Arcuatum surgical correction

Area of Science:

• Medical Engineering
• Orthopedic Surgery
• Biomedical Design

Background:

• Pectus Arcuatum (PA) is a congenital chest wall deformity causing sternal protrusion.
• Surgical correction of PA involves sternal osteotomies and rib cartilage resection.
• Imprecise sternotomy angles can necessitate bone or cartilage grafts due to voids.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present and validate an automated procedure for creating patient-specific cutting templates for PA surgery.
• To simplify PA surgical correction and avoid complications like bone voids.
• To enable non-expert users to independently create custom medical devices.

Main Methods:

• Utilized Reverse Engineering and Additive Manufacturing to design patient-specific cutting templates.
• Developed an automated procedure using common CAD operations to generate template CAD models.
• Validated the procedure for its ability to simplify surgery and prevent complications.

Main Results:

• The automated CAD procedure successfully generates custom cutting templates.
• Patient-specific templates simplify the surgical correction of Pectus Arcuatum.
• The method effectively avoids the occurrence of voids requiring bone or cartilage grafts.

Conclusions:

• An automated CAD procedure for patient-specific cutting templates significantly aids Pectus Arcuatum surgical correction.
• This approach enhances surgical precision and patient outcomes by minimizing complications.
• The developed method empowers users with limited expertise to create essential medical devices.