Advances in identifying osseous fractured areas and virtually reducing bone fractures

Abstract

The aim of this work is the development of computer-assisted techniques for helping specialists in the pre-operative planning of bone fracture reduction. As a result, intervention time may be reduced and potential misinterpretations circumvented, with the consequent benefits in the treatment and recovery time of the patient. The computer-assisted planning of a bone fracture reduction may be divided into three main stages: identification of bone fragments from medical images, computation of the reduction and subsequent stabilization of the fracture, and evaluation of the obtained results. The identification stage may include the generation of 3D models of bone fragments, with the purpose of obtaining useful models for the two subsequent stages. This thesis deals with the identification of bone fragments from CT scans, the generation of 3D models of bone fragments, and the computation of the fracture reduction excluding the use of fixation devices.