Abstract
Introduction
Radiographic assessment of acetabular fragment positioning during periacetabular osteotomy (PAO) is of paramount importance. Plain radiographic examination is time and resource intensive. Fluoroscopic based assessment is increasingly utilized but can introduce distortion. Our purpose was to determine the correlation of intraoperative fluoroscopy-based measurements with a fluoroscopic tool that corrects for distortion with postoperative plain-film measurements.
Methods
We performed a prospective validation study on 32 PAO's (28 patients) performed by a single academic surgeon. Preoperative standing radiographs, intraoperative fluoroscopic images, and postoperative standing radiographs were evaluated with lateral center edge angle (LCEA), acetabular index (AI), posterior wall sign (PWS), and anterior center edge angle (ACEA). Intraoperative fluoroscopy was adjusted to account for pelvic inclination. The fluoroscopic GRID was utilized in all cases (Phantom MSK Hip Preservation, OrthoGrid LLC, Salt Lake City, UT). Intraoperative fluoroscopic measurements were compared to preoperative and postoperative standing radiographs at 6 weeks using linear regression applied in MINITAB.
Results
All pre and post-correction measurements demonstrated excellent agreement within an average difference of 1.2 and 0.9 degrees (deg) respectively (p<0.01). Agreement between post-correction fluoroscopic GRID measurements and 6-week postoperative radiographs was: average difference for LCEA −0.4 deg (range −5 to 8 deg, SD 3.4), −0.9 deg for ACEA (range −16 to 7 deg, SD 5.1), and 0.3 deg for AI (range −8 to 6 deg, SD 3.3) (all p<.01). The PWS agreement was 93%. There was a tendency for fluoroscopic GRID measurements to underestimate acetabular coverage by less than 1 degree.
Conclusion
Our study validated the use of a novel intraoperative fluoroscopic tool that accounts for fluoroscopic distortion and permits real-time measurements of PAO fragment correction that correlate accurately with postoperative evaluation. We believe that this tool adds value by giving surgeons reliable quantitative measurements of correction without interfering with surgical work-flow.
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