Grant: Alliance Grants

Osteoarthritis, a common chronic disease of the knee, can lead to a total knee replacement. Although common, this surgery remains unsatisfactory for 10 to 20% of patients, or up to 200,000 patients per year worldwide. Causes may include improper positioning of the prosthesis in addition to other factors. The current trend is to deploy robotic systems for prosthetic replacement. However, a major limitation of these systems is the absence of a stable standard reference frame for reproducible measuring of the knee morphology, prosthesis position and knee joint alignment, often relying on palpation or imaging with a limited field of view. This project aims to develop medical image analysis tools to improve the reproducibility of the reference frames used in arthroplasty, prosthetic placement, and ultimately patient satisfaction. The objective is to provide surgeons with such image-based assistance for 3D reconstruction of the knee, post-operative prosthetic follow-ups, evaluation of joint alignment, and identification of quantitative clinical indices related to prosthetic positioning. These innovative tools will improve the planning and outcome of surgeries, as well as reduce the number of dissatisfied patients. This will bring a better quality of life to patients, a reduction in post-operative costs and better use of the healthcare system. The project is being carried out in partnership with Eiffel Medtech, a Canadian company which will commercialize the software solution to prosthesis manufacturers. This project will thus create highly qualified personnel and training for students and researchers in Canada. This partnership will fully contribute to building Canada's international reputation in the field of knee replacement surgery.