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Advantages of three-dimensional printing in the management of acetabular fracture fixed by the Kocher-Langenbeck approach: randomised controlled trial

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Abstract

Purpose

To compare the outcomes of the Kocher-Langenbeck reduction and fixation of the posterior structures of the acetabulum between 3D printing technique and conventional technique.

Methods

Forty-three patients who sustained fractures of the posterior part of the acetabulum were randomly assigned to two groups: 3D printing (G1; n = 20) and conventional technique (G2; n = 23). The surgical time, intra-operative blood loss, differences between pre-and post-operative haemoglobin, universal functional and radiographic scores, and complications were compared between the groups. The minimum follow-up was 18 months.

Results

The average operating time (120.75 min) and intra-operative blood loss (244 ml) were lower in G1 than in G2 (125.87 min and 268.7 ml, respectively; p = 0.42, p = 0.1, respectively). The difference between the pre- and post-operative haemoglobin was 1.71 g/dl in G1 and 1.93 g/dl in G2 (p = 0.113).

Post-operative complications occurred more frequently in patients in G2 (34.7%) than in patients in G1 (15%), though these differences were also not significant (p = 0.6). The radiographic result was satisfactory in 16 patients (80%) in G1 and 18 patients (78.26%) in G2 (p = 0.5). The clinical result was satisfactory in 15 patients (75%) in G1 and in 17 patients (73.9%) in G2 (p = 0.6).

Conclusions

No significant differences were found in terms of surgical time, overall complications, and radiographic or functional outcomes between 3D printing and the conventional technique.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank MD Thierno Sadou Barry (Biostatistician at Public health of the Dalaba Prefecture Hospital-Guinea) for the statistical analysis. Furthermore, we would like to thank Pr Philippe Rosset (Trousseau University Hospital of Tours-France) and MD Pomme Jouffroy (Groupe Hospitalier Paris Saint Joseph, Paris-France) for their valuable and constructive suggestions during the planning of this study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic and Traumatology of Charles Nicolle Hospital of Tunis- Tunisia, University of Tunis El Manar, Farhat Hached University Campus n ° 94, ROMMANA , 1068, Tunis, Tunisia

    Mohamed Bouabdellah, Mohamed Bensalah, Chrif Kamoun, Mehdi Bellil, Mondher Kooli & Khaled Hadhri

  2. GHG-SOTCOT (Tunisian Group of Hip and Knee surgery-Tunisian Society of Orthopaedic Surgery and Traumatology, ROMMANA, Tunisia

    Mohamed Bouabdellah, Mohamed Bensalah & Mehdi Bellil

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  1. Mohamed Bouabdellah
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study conception and design.

Mohamed Bouabdellah: conceptualization, (study design) methodology, writing – original draft, review editing, supervision, validation.

Mohamed Bensalah: conceptualization, investigation, data curation.

Chrif Kamoun: literature search, data and formal analysis.

Mehdi Bellil: literature search, software.

Mondher Kooli: (study design) methodology, review editing, validation.

Khaled Hadhri: funding acquisition, visualisation.

All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mohamed Bouabdellah.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval

The manuscript was approved by the ethics committee of Charles Nicolle Hospital of Tunis.

The study was conducted in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed consent was obtained from all patients. This study was registered on https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04660734

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All participants provided verbal and written informed consent.

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The authors affirm that human research participants provided informed consent for the publication of the images in Fig. 4.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no competing interests.

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Bouabdellah, M., Bensalah, M., Kamoun, C. et al. Advantages of three-dimensional printing in the management of acetabular fracture fixed by the Kocher-Langenbeck approach: randomised controlled trial. International Orthopaedics (SICOT) 46, 1155–1163 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00264-022-05319-y

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