Tailor-Made Plate Design and Manufacturing System for Treating Bone Fractures in Small Animals

We propose the use of a computer-aided design (CAD) system for treating bone fractures in small animals. During surgical planning, the veterinarian sketches a simple plate by referring to computed tomography images. A CAD operator then uses polygonal approximation (triangulation) of the surface of the bone region to model the plate. After the approximated shape is imported into the CAD system as a triangular mesh, a detailed design of the plate is prepared by referring to the abovementioned sketch. The plate can be designed to match the bone surface since the plate surface follows the curvature of the surface of the exported triangular mesh. The bone shape and the plate are eventually converted into polygons, and a structural model identical to the fractured part of the bone can be reproduced using a 3D printer, which allows for alignment to be performed at full scale. In this study, we examine the applicability of the proposed system by designing the most appropriately shaped plates for bone fracture therapy for small dogs brought to a veterinary clinic for treatment.