Corrective Surgery Using Virtual Surgical Simulation and a Three-Dimensional Printed Osteotomy Guide: A Case Report

Abstract

A 74-year-old female patient, who underwent surgery for a left distal tibiofibular fracture 40 years earlier, visited the hospital with an ankle varus deformity due to malunion. The patient complained of discomfort while walking due to the ankle and hindfoot varus defor- mity but did not complain of ankle pain. Therefore, correction using supramalleolar osteotomy was planned, and through virtual surgi- cal simulation, it was predicted that a correction angle of 24° and an osteotomy gap open of 12 mm would be necessary. An osteotomy guide and an osteotomy gap block were made using three-dimensional (3D) printing to perform the osteotomy and correct the defor- mity according to the predicted goal. One year after surgery, it was observed that the ankle varus was corrected according to the surgical simulation, and the patient was able to walk comfortably. Thus, for correction of deformity, virtual surgical simulation and a 3D-printed osteotomy guide can be used to predict the target value for correction. This is useful for increasing the accuracy of correction of the de- formity.