Hip joint center location by fitting conchoid shape to the acetabular rim region of MR images.

This paper proposes a hip joint center (HJC) location method based on the approximating of the acetabulum with a conchoid shape to acetabular rim in MR images. As the human hip joint is not a perfect sphere but it is close to a conchoid shape, the accurate location of the HJC cannot be computed as the center of a sphere. By approximating the acetabulum with a conchoid shape, it is possible to compensate a possible hip joint center location error due to the inaccuracy of 3D surface models for using functional method to calculate HJC location. For the hip joint surgery planning, it is necessary to assess patients' hip range of motions based on the HJC, thus the accurate HJC location is important.