Morphological study of tibial plateau based on three-dimensional computed tomography image and its clinical significance

Abstract

Objective To investigate the three-dimensional morphological characteristics of tibial plateau based on CT image post-processing technique and analyze its significance in preoperative planning of tibial plateau fractures. Methods Multi-slice spiral CT data of 98 humans (56 males and 42 females) with normal tibial plateau and 30 patients (15 males and 15 females) with tibial plateau fractures were extracted. Morphological measurements of the tibial plateau were achieved by means of a three-dimensional measurement method based on points, lines and surfaces. Differences in three-dimensional parameters between genders in normal tibial plateau and differences between normal tibial plateau and tibial plateau fractures were analyzed. Results Differences of males and females were significant in width of tibial plateau [(73.2±3.7)mm, (65.5±3.7)mm], anteroposterior dimension of medial tibial plateau [(39.8±3.5)mm, (34.8±2.6)mm] and anteroposterior dimension of lateral tibial plateau [(34.0±3.3)mm, (29.8±3 5)mm] (P 0.05). Above parameters in three-dimensional morphological measurements of tibibial plateau fractures varied compared to the normal reference value (P<0.05). Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) for intra-observe and inter-observer agreement in normal tibial plateau measurement was excellent. Conclusions Present research provides a series of scientific and objective data for preoperative planning of tibial plateau fractures. Measurements of tibial plateau can assist the evaluation of reduction of tibial plateau fractures. Key words: Anthropometry; Tibia; Imaging, three-dimensional; Tomography, X-ray