Design and fabrication of a drill guide template for total elbow arthroplasty

Abstract

Optimum implant positioning and technique used for its alignment are vital parameters to improve clinical results. Visual cues and jigs are utilized in the recent surgical techniques, which lead to some errors in the flexion-extension axis identification. Surgeons have used computer-assisted surgery for the alignment of the hip, knee, and shoulder. However, there is a restricted application of this technology to the elbow. In this study, a technique was used to model a drill guide template to precisely place an implant in the bone. The computed tomography dataset was used to construct four different elbow bones, and an elbow implant was modeled. The surgical drill guides were designed based on the computed tomography data. The drill guide templates and constructed bones were fabricated, using a 3D printer. The accuracy of the surgical guides was validated experimentally. The results showed that the mean deviations between the achieved and planned positions of the hole at the bone apex and base of bones were less than those reported in previous studies in both medial/lateral and posterior/anterior positions. The low positioning errors observed in this study proposed that the implant’s location can be precisely aligned to its target using the introduced technique.