THR Simulator – the software for generating radiographs of THR prosthesis

BACKGROUND: Measuring the orientation of acetabular cup after total hip arthroplasty is important for prognosis. The verification of these measurement methods will be easier and more feasible if we can synthesize prosthesis radiographs in each simulated condition. One reported method used an expensive mechanical device with an indeterminable precision. We thus develop a program, THR Simulator, to directly synthesize digital radiographs of prostheses for further analysis. Under Windows platform and using Borland C++ Builder programming tool, we developed the THR Simulator. We first built a mathematical model of acetabulum and femoral head. The data of the real dimension of prosthesis was adopted to generate the radiograph of hip prosthesis. Then with the ray tracing algorithm, we calculated the thickness each X-ray beam passed, and then transformed to grey scale by mapping function which was derived by fitting the exponential function from the phantom image. Finally we could generate a simulated radiograph for further analysis. RESULTS: Using THR Simulator, the users can incorporate many parameters together for radiograph synthesis. These parameters include thickness, film size, tube distance, film distance, anteversion, abduction, upper wear, medial wear, and posterior wear. These parameters are adequate for any radiographic measurement research. This THR Simulator has been used in two studies, and the errors are within 2° for anteversion and 0.2 mm for wearing measurement. CONCLUSION: We design a program, THR Simulator that can synthesize prosthesis radiographs. Such a program can be applied in future studies for further analysis and validation of measurement of various parameters of pelvis after total hip arthroplasty.