3D Patellar Model Generation and Fracture Simulation

This study was approved by the medical ethics committee of our hospital, and all participants provided informed consent. The patellar image data of a healthy volunteer (age: 41 years, height: 176 cm, weight: 73 kg) were collected using spiral computed tomography (CT) (GE Medical Systems 64-slice spiral CT scanner, layer thickness: 0.5 mm) and saved in Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine format. The cortical and cancellous bone structures of the patella were extracted using threshold segmentation, region growing, and other commands in Mimics Research 21 (Materialize, Belgium) to build a three-dimensional model of the patella (Figure 1A) (Yuan et al., 2022 (link)). Remeshing, wrapping, and smoothing were performed using Geomagic Wrap 2021 (Geomagic, NC, United States) (Mao et al., 2023 (link)). Finally, the TPF model (AO/OTA 34C1) was established using SolidWorks 2021 (Dassault, France) (Chang et al., 2023 (link)) (Figure 1B).