Design of Total Hip Replacement digital templating software

In this study, by taking full advantage of digital X-ray and information technology, we have developed a semi-automated procedure to template hip implants, by making use of digital templating techniques. Using this approach, a software system called OrthoHip™ has been developed. The OrthoHip™ templating process uses a similar technique to that used by an orthopaedic surgeon, using manual templates over general X-ray films. From an image of patient´s X-ray, the OrthoHip™ template helps in quickly and easily selecting to the approximate template size needed. The visual templating features then allow the user to quickly review multiple template sizes against the X-ray and to thus obtain a nearly precise image of the implant size required. The system can assist by templating the patient´s image and generating database reports that can accompany the patient´s notes. The software system was implemented in Java programming, using object-oriented techniques to manage the graphics and objects. The approaches for image scaling used in this research also will be discussed. The study compared the results of the semi-automated (using digital templating) method to the conventional or observational method to demonstrate the accuracy and the utility of the system.