Published studies of the human hip make frequent reference to the normal pelvis and acetabulum. However, other than qualitative
descriptions we found no clinically applicable published references describing a normal pelvis and acetabulum; such information
is important for designing certain kinds of implants (eg, reconstruction cages). We describe a method to quantify, average,
and apply data gathered from normal human specimens to create a standard representation of the ilium and ischium. One hundred
healthy hemipelves from 50 human skeletons were evaluated. We measured angles and distances between major anatomic landmarks
in the pelvis. The data collected were analyzed for variance and averaged to create a normal topographic map. Finally, we
examined several commercially available acetabular reconstruction cages to determine the fit to the anatomically determined
normal pelvis. These results provide a representation of true acetabular geometry and may serve as the basis for future acetabular
reconstruction cage design.
The following authors (VK, SJI, WHS) certify they have received payments or benefits from a commercial entity (Stryker Orthopaedics)
related to this work.
Each author certifies that his or her institution has approved or waived the human protocol for this investigation, that all
investigations were conducted in conformity with ethical principles of research.