RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Elastic Image Fusion Software to Coregister Preoperatively Planned Pedicle Screws With Intraoperative Computed Tomography Data for Image-Guided Spinal Surgery
JF International Journal of Spine Surgery
JO Int J Spine Surg
FD International Society for the Advancement of Spine Surgery
SP 295
OP 301
DO 10.14444/8039
VO 15
IS 2
A1 Schmidt, Franziska A.
A1 Mullally, Mary
A1 Lohmann, Martin
A1 Hiepe, Patrick
A1 Kirnaz, Sertac
A1 Chidambaram, Swathi
A1 Wipplinger, Christoph
A1 Härtl, Roger
YR 2021
UL https://www.ijssurgery.com/content/15/2/295.abstract
AB Background: For complex spinal cases, especially when robotic guidance is used, preoperative planning of pedicle screws can be helpful. Transfer of these preoperatively planned pedicle screws to intraoperative 3-dimensional imaging is challenging because of changes in anatomic alignment between preoperative supine and intraoperative prone imaging, especially when multiple levels are involved. In the spine, where each individual vertebra is subject to independent movement from adjacent level, rigid image fusion is confined to a single vertebra and can display fusion inaccuracies on adjacent levels. A novel elastic fusion algorithm is introduced to overcome these disadvantages. This study aimed to investigate image registration accuracy of preoperatively planned pedicle screws with an elastic fusion algorithm vs. rigid fusion for intraoperative placement with image-guided surgery.Methods: A total of 12 patients, were selected depending on the availability of a preoperative spinal computed tomography (CT) and an intraoperative AIRO CT scan (BrainLAB AG, Munich, Germany) of the same spinal region. To verify accuracy differences between rigid fusion and elastic fusion 76 bilateral screw trajectories were virtually defined in the preoperative CT image, and they were transferred via either rigid fusion or elastic fusion to the intraoperative CT scan. Accuracy of the transferred screws in the rigid and elastic fusion group was determined by measuring pedicle breaches on the intraoperative CT.Results: In the rigid fusion group 1.3% of screws showed a breach of less than 2 mm, 9.2% showed breaches between 2 and 4 mm, and 18.4% of the screws showed an error above 4 mm. The elastic fusion group showed no breaches and provided high accuracy between preoperative and intraoperative screw placement.Conclusion: Elastic fusion provides high registration accuracy and represents a considerable step towards efficiency and safety in CT-based image-guided surgery.Level of Evidence: 3.