3D-printing-assisted surgery versus conventional surgery for treatment of Schatzker VI tibial plateau fractures: a multi-center clinical study / 中华创伤骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To compare 3D-printing-assisted surgery and conventional surgery in the treatment of Schazker type Ⅵ tibial plateau fractures.Methods:A retrospective study was conducted to analyze the clinical data of 50 patients with type Ⅵ tibial plateau fracture who had been treated from January 2019 to December 2021 at the 5 Departments of Orthopedics in The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, The First People's Hospital of Jiujiang, Pingkuang General Hospital, Ganzhou People's Hospital, and Nanchang Hongdu Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The patients were divided into 2 groups according to their different treatment methods. In the 3D printing group of 25 cases treated by 3D-printing-assisted surgery, there were 14 males and 11 females, with an age of (42.5±9.1) years; in the conventional group of 25 cases treated by conventional surgery, there were 13 males and 12 females with an age of (42.2±9.3) years. The 2 groups were compared in terms of operation time, intraoperative blood loss, intraoperative fluoroscopy frequency, fracture healing time, postoperative complications, the Rasmussen radiological scores and the American Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) knee function scores at 6 and 12 months after operation.Results:There was no significant difference in the preoperative general data between the 2 groups, indicating comparability ( P>0.05). The operation time [(125.4±10.6) min], intraoperative blood loss [(206.2±16.3) mL], intraoperative fluoroscopy frequency [(9.2±2.7) times] and fracture healing time [(3.0±0.7) months] in the 3D printing group were all significantly less than those in the conventional group [(168.2±14.1) min, (303.2±20.4) mL, (15.5±3.5) times and (4.1±0.8) months] while the Rasmussen radiological scores (17.6±1.2 and 17.9±0.6) and HSS knee scores (90.8±6.4 and 91.5±5.6) at 6 and 12 months after operation in the 3D printing group were all significantly higher than those in the conventional group (16.2±2.6 and 16.7±2.2; 84.5±9.2 and 87.6±8.0) (all P<0.05). In the 3D printing group, there were 1 case of wound infection and 1 case of wound dehiscence after operation. In the conventional group, there were 2 cases of wound skin necrosis, 3 cases of wound dehiscence, 1 case of traumatic arthritis, 2 cases of wound infection, and 1 case of screw loosening. The incidence of complications in the 3D printing group (8.0%, 2/28) was significantly lower than that in the conventional group (36.0%, 9/25) ( P<0.05). Conclusion:In the treatment of Schatzker type VI tibial plateau fractures, compared with conventional surgery, 3D-printing-assisted surgery can lead to better curative outcomes, because it is conducive to lowering surgical difficulty, reducing postoperative complications, and promoting fracture union and functional recovery of the knee.