DEVELOPMENT OF ENHANCED CALIBRATION SYSTEM AND MEASUREMENT PROGRAM FOR RADIOSTEREOMETRIC ANALYSIS

Radiostereometric Analysis (RSA) is the gold standard used to evaluate the performance of Total Joint Replacement. However, the assessment of novel surgical procedures is limited by the present accuracy and precision of RSA. At the same time, complications in the measurement of RSA radiographs confine its large-scale clinical application. The objective of this project is to increase the accuracy and precision of the RSA technique and improve its measurement efficiency. An enhanced calibration cage for RSA was developed by using numerical and image simulations. The phantom study showed that the novel cage has significant improvement of accuracy and precision over two widely used cages. By implementing and modifying existing algorithms, a new measurement program for RSA radiographs was also developed. The program demonstrates equivalent accuracy and precision, and improved user-friendliness, compared to two commercial software applications. The results of this study provide a novel, enhanced RSA technique.