3D printing-assisted extended lateral approach for displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology has developed rapidly in orthopaedic surgery and effectively achieves precise and personalized surgery. The purpose of this meta-analysis was to assess the efficacy of 3D printing technology in the management of displaced intra-articular calcaneal fractures (DICFs) by extended lateral approach (ELA). Methods We searched PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, Cochrane Library, CNKI, VIP, and VANFUN databases were searched up to October 2020. All clinical studies comparing traditional surgery and 3D printing-assisted surgery in the management of DICFs were obtained, evaluating the quality of the included studies and extracting data. For each study, we assessed odds ratios (ORs), standard mean difference (SMD), and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) to assess and synthesize the outcomes. Results Three RCTs and nine retrospective studies involving 732 patients were included met our inclusion criteria with 366 patients in the 3D group and 366 patients in the conventional group. The meta-analysis showed that there were significant differences of the operative time in the 3D group [SMD = - 1.86, 95% CI (- 2.23, - 1.40), P < 0.001], intraoperative blood loss [SMD = - 1.26, 95% CI (- 1.82, - 0.69), P < 0.001], the number of intraoperative X-ray exposures [SMD = - 0.66, 95% CI (- 1.20, - 0.12), P < 0.001], postoperative complications [OR = 0.49, 95% CI (0.31, 0.79), P < 0.001], excellent and good rate of calcaneal fracture outcome [OR = 4.09, 95% CI (2.03, 8.22), P < 0.001]. Conclusion The current study indicates that 3D printing-assisted ELA surgery showed a better rate of excellent and good outcome, shorter operation time, less intraoperative blood loss, fewer intraoperative fluoroscopies, fewer complications. Besides, there is still a need for large-sample, high-quality, long-term randomized controlled trials to confirm the conclusion.