A cutfem paradigm for surgical guided growth of bone joints
Many children suffer from bone deformities, which severely hinders their ability to walk. Some children may require invasive surgical treatment, such as cutting their bones, whilst others may recover their mobility through less invasive treatments such as guided growth surgery. However, surgeons have difficulties choosing the best treatment options because there is no reliable tool to help them predict the post-operative evolution of bone joints. CutGrow aims to provide a numerical platform whereby bone growth will be predicted virtually. The platform will rely on a novel finite element technology, CutFEM, developed by the applicant, Dr. Claus, which circumvents the need for meshing complex geometries. This algorithmic concept will bestow numerical agility upon all steps of the simulation process, from acquiring patient-specific data to handling complex contact conditions between interacting bones, the latter being the domain of excellence of the host supervisor Prof. Erleben. In the first stage of CutGrow, a seamless and robust simulation pipeline in the specific context of bone joint mechanics and growth will be created. In a second stage, the simulation will be used as a basis to develop a unifying and highly versatile model for children’s bone growth, capable of easily handling a range of mathematical growth stimulus theories. Finally, we will specialize the developments to the context of guided bone growth and prove that the proposed modelling framework can reproduce clinical data gathered by MD Wong at Hvidovre Hospital. The CutGrow simulation environment has the potential to transform paediatric orthopaedic surgery, by providing researchers with an agile tool to investigate new treatment options virtually and to design new operation planning procedures based on reliable, physics based simulation technologies.