Development of a model to predict 3D femur morphology in infants and young children

The purpose of this study was to develop a predictive model to generate representative 3D paediatric femur models for age 0–3 years based on child characteristics. Computed tomography (CT) images of 79 decedent (age 0–3 years) femurs were used to develop a statistical shape model characterising femur shape. A regression model predicted shape parameters from child characteristics (age, height, and weight). The predictive model demonstrated good fit (R² = 0.976) in predicting femur shape (surface coordinates) in the test set (n = 17) and thus, can be used to generate representative 3D paediatric femur models in the absence of CT imaging.

本研究旨在开发一款预测模型，用于基于儿童个体特征生成0~3岁年龄段具有代表性的三维儿科股骨模型。本研究纳入79例0~3岁逝者的股骨计算机断层扫描（Computed Tomography, CT）影像，以此构建用于表征股骨形态的统计形状模型（statistical shape model）。基于儿童的年龄、身高与体重等个体特征，通过回归模型预测股骨形态参数。该预测模型在测试集（n=17）中预测股骨形态（表面坐标）时展现出优异的拟合性能，决定系数R²达0.976，因此可在无CT影像的场景下，用于生成具有代表性的三维儿科股骨模型。