title: A morphological study of anatomical plates for acetabular posterior column.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this work is to explore the morphological characteristics of the acetabular posterior column using digital technology, in order to develop anatomical plates for internal fixation of acetabular posterior column fractures.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three-dimensional reconstruction models of the pelvis were developed from computed tomography scan data of 111 adult patients. From them, the diameter (D) of the femoral head, three approximate arcs along the acetabular posterior column plate path with corresponding radius of curvature [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], as well as an angle [Formula: see text] were measured. A statistical analysis was used to determine the most feasible method of designing anatomical plates according to the data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The statistical analysis results showed that [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text] had no correlations with D, and they also exhibited no statistically significant differences between genders. By examining the correlations between four morphological parameters of the acetabular posterior column, the results showed [Formula: see text] increased along with [Formula: see text] was inversely proportional to [Formula: see text] and [Formula: see text], and [Formula: see text] was independent with little variation. Taking [Formula: see text] as the reference, the data were divided into three groups and three types of anatomical plates were designed according to the three groups of data.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The anatomical structure of the acetabular posterior column exhibits great individual differences. Anatomical plates designed in this study have higher accuracy than those conventional ones, which is helpful to the quality of fracture reduction and reduce the operation difficult. Meanwhile, they also can be conveniently used in clinic.
authors.affiliation: Department of Orthopaedic Trauma, Hong-Hui Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University College of Medicine, 76 Nanguo Road, Beilin District, Xi'an, 710054, China, liuqinghua9@126.com.
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Kun
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhuang
authors.forename: Kai
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Yahui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Fu
mesh_terms: D000077:Acetabulum / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001860:Bone Plates; D005260:Female; D005593:Fracture Fixation, Internal / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010384:Pelvic Bones / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D010388:Pelvis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed