Virtual anatomical reconstruction of large acetabular bone defects using a statistical shape model.

Custom implants are used to treat patients with large acetabular bone defects. To quantify the bone defect and to initialize the implant design, a virtual anatomical reconstruction of the bone needs to be performed. Our SSM-based reconstruction approach was used to overcome the limitations of the mirrored contralateral method and improves upon other SSM reconstruction techniques. The reconstruction errors for the acetabular direction, the hip joint center and the acetabular radius were, respectively: [Formula: see text], 2.6 mm and 0.7 mm. We believe that our method can be an essential tool in the planning and the design of custom implants.