Hip joint centre position estimation using a dual unscented Kalman filter for computer-assisted orthopaedic surgery

In computer-assisted knee surgery, the accuracy of the localization of the femur centre of rotation relative to the hip-bone (hip joint centre) is affected by the unavoidable and untracked pelvic movements because only the femoral pose is acquired during passive pivoting manoeuvres. We present a dual unscented Kalman filter algorithm that allows the estimation of the hip joint centre also using as input the position of a pelvic reference point that can be acquired with a skin marker placed on the hip, without increasing the invasiveness of the surgical procedure. A comparative assessment of the algorithm was carried out using data provided by in vitro experiments mimicking in vivo surgical conditions. Soft tissue artefacts were simulated and superimposed onto the position of a pelvic landmark. Femoral pivoting made of a sequence of star-like quasi-planar movements followed by a circumduction was performed. The dual unscented Kalman filter method proved to be less sensitive to pelvic displacements, which were shown to be larger during the manoeuvres in which the femur was more adducted. Comparable accuracy between all the analysed methods resulted for hip joint centre displacements smaller than 1mm (error: 2.2 +/-[0.2; 0.3]mm, median +/-[inter-quartile range 25%; inter-quartile range 75%]) and between 1 and 6mm (error: 4.8 +/-[0.5; 0.8]mm) during planar movements. When the hip joint centre displacement exceeded 6mm, the dual unscented Kalman filter proved to be more accurate than the other methods by 30% during multi-planar movements (error: 5.2 +/-[1.2; 1]mm).