Morphological study of the proximal femur: a new method of geometrical assessment using 3-dimensional reverse engineering

Abstract

This study presents a new method of using computerized tomography images combined with the reverse engineering technique to obtain and analyse the three-dimensional inner and outer geometry of the proximal cadaveric femur. Three-dimensional models were reconstructed from the computerized tomography images and approximated with 2D and 3D fitting algorithms based on reverse engineering methods. The following parameters were calculated for each femur: femoral head diameter, femoral neck axis, femoral shaft axis, anteversion angle and neck-shaft angle. These data represent the geometry of the studied proximal femur, and can be used for the design of proper size and shape of femoral prostheses and trochanteric nail systems.