Discussion in measuring the curvature of cervical endplate based on reverse engineering software / 中华骨科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective Method discussion of measuring curvature of cervical endplate based on reverse engineering software.Methods The CT scan images data (From C2 to C7) of 8 normal males were selected and inputted into Mimics 10.0 software for 3D reconstruction and separation (cervical spine is divided into C1-C7 isolated reconstructed 3D images).Another software NX Imageware 13.2 is used for further curvature measuring in lines named left,middle,right,anterior,middle,posterior which are derived from each superior and inferior endplate.In each line,15 different points which can perfectly show morphologic characters of the endplate are selected for statistic comparing between different points in the same endplate,different lines in the same endplate,different endplates in the same individual and the same endplate in different individuals.In addition,the correlation between the concavity and the width and depth of endplate is also analyzed.Results From inferior endplate of C2 to that of C6,except superior endplate of C7,there is significant difference between different points in the same line (P＜0.05),while it is opposite in the compare between lines in the same endplate,different endplates in the same individual and the same endplate (except inferior endplate of C4) in different individuals (P＞0.05).It showed significant correlation between the concavity and the width and depth of endplate.Conclusion Reverse engineering software is feasible to be used in evaluate morphologic characters of normal cervical endplate as a new method for measuring the detail parameters of them,it also explore the laws of the curvatures of cervical endplate initially and both of them will be of great use for cervical interbody cage design.