Abstract
Closed manipulation of long bone fractures is often a difficult problem. Muscles and soft tissues along with gravity, acting along the fracture fragments, can cause complex displacement and deformity at the fracture site. At the same time surgeons have to rely on human assistants to manipulate and realign these fractures. This depends a lot on their individual skills and furthermore human assistants are prone to fatigue and are liable to imprecise movements. A robotic device has precision, accuracy, and steadiness along with the ability to be programmed. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize a device, which can aid orthopaedic surgeons to manipulate long bone fractures.
Extensive literature search was done using the Internet and conventional resources, to find recent developments in the use of robotics in trauma and fracture surgery. Different models of robots were considered and finally a parallel robot of the Stewart platform type was considered to be of the design that will be more compatible with an orthopaedic operating environment.
Computer aided design and graphics modelling of the robot was done and range of motion and force it can generate was calculated. The prototype that was built had six degrees of freedom and enough force and range of motion to reduce and manipulate long bone fractures. The actual controlling interface of the robot through a PC was established.
It is possible to build a robot for manipulating long bone fractures. Further research is being done to focus on the integration of the robot to fluoroscopic images and designing the correct attachment tools for the extremities.
The abstracts were prepared by Editorial Secretary Jean-Claude Theis. Correspondence should be addressed to NZOA at Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Dunedin Hospital, Private Bag 1921, Dunedin, New Zealand.
