Info for surgeons

HipOpCT© is a free program you can easily download and install on your personal computer. It allows a fully three dimensional pre-operative planning of total hip replacement, by means of a graphic user interface specifically designed by a team of programmers, bioengineers and orthopaedic surgeons and improved during a five-year clinical trial at the Istituti Ortopedici Rizzoli.

Launch the program and load the CT data of your patient directly in the DICOM format they are saved from your hospital computed tomography. You will find yourself in a very familiar environment made of radiographs, computed tomography sections and other visual representations aimed to simulate the imaging modalities commonly used in the clinical practice

. hipop_sel_prosth

Then, you will be able to select the hip prosthesis you prefer from a library of commercial components. Adding prosthesis is quite simple; if the prosthesis you use is not included please let us know and we shall provide as soon as possible.

Using intuitive commands you shall be able to "navigate" the prosthesis within the patient body to the best anatomical position. HipOpCT© fully supports modular implants. You can select a different size for each component of the implant at any time during the planning, with just one click. HipOpCT© gives you several tools to assess a correct planning of the implant that consist in measurement tools and biomechanical analysis modules.

Measurements

Many studies require the measurement of the human skeletal anatomy. Using the 2D measurement tools available in HipOpCT© and in HipOpRX© to take measurements in multiple orthogonal windows, it is possible to obtain 3D measurements in an easy and intuitive way.

Analysis modules

Probably the most important feature for researchers is the analysis modules library. These additional functions compute relevant biomechanical indicators that may be extremely relevant in many research contexts.
The two analysis modules available in the current release are the Density Map and the Distance Map. The first provides a complete map of the apparent density (expressed in HU) of the tissue touching each point of the implant surface. The second computes the distance between each point of the implant surface and the endosteal cortical surface defined with a settable density threshold.
Once you have achieved the best anatomical fit an array of analysis modules will give you detailed indications on the functional and biomechanical outcomes.
Of course if any of these indicators does not satisfy you, you can modify the type, size or position of the implant and see in real time how this changes such indicator. This way it will be easy to find the best compromise between opposite requirements.

Happy of the plan you achieved? OK, now you can save all relevant data in a report that you can print and take with you in the operating room. Or, if your hospital provides you with an intra-operative navigation system or a surgical robot, you can save your surgical planning in a format your system can read.

When no CT study is available you can use the HipOpRX© software for preoperative planning. The program reads radiographic images in different formats, such as DICOM, Bitmap, Tiff or JPG.

Although you have only radiographic images, the prostheses geometry is completely three-dimensional and thus you can have an extra control on the positioning of the implant, like the intra-extra rotation. Like in HipOpCT©, you can perform measurements

At the end of the planning, you can save a report which contains patientís data got from the DICOM header, type and size of the planned prosthesis, measurements performed and any image taken from the planning session.