Subject-Specific Spino-Pelvic Models Reliably Measure Spinal Kinematics During Seated Forward Bending in Adult Spinal Deformity.

Image-based subject-specific models and simulations are recently being introduced to complement current state-of-the-art mostly static insights of the adult spinal deformity (ASD) pathology and improve the often poor surgical outcomes. Although the accuracy of a recently developed subject-specific modeling and simulation framework has already been quantified, its reliability to perform marker-driven kinematic analyses has not yet been investigated. The aim of this work was to evaluate the reliability of this subject-specific framework to measure spine kinematics in ASD patients, in terms of 1) the overall test-retest repeatability; 2) the inter-operator agreement of spine kinematic estimates; and, 3) the uncertainty of those spine kinematics to operator-dependent parameters of the framework. To evaluate the overall repeatability 1], four ASD subjects and one control subject participated in a test-retest study with a 2-week interval. At both time instances, subject-specific spino-pelvic models were created by one operator to simulate a recorded forward trunk flexion motion. Next, to evaluate inter-operator agreement 2], three trained operators each created a model for three ASD subjects to simulate the same forward trunk flexion motion. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC's) of the range of motion (ROM) of conventional spino-pelvic parameters [lumbar lordosis (LL), sagittal vertical axis (SVA), thoracic kyphosis (TK), pelvic tilt (PT), T1-and T9-spino-pelvic inclination (T1/T9-SPI)] were used to evaluate kinematic reliability 1] and inter-operator agreement 2]. Lastly, a Monte-Carlo probabilistic simulation was used to evaluate the uncertainty of the intervertebral joint kinematics to operator variability in the framework, for three ASD subjects 3]. LL, SVA, and T1/T9-SPI had an excellent test-retest reliability for the ROM, while TK and PT did not. Inter-operator agreement was excellent, with ICC values higher than test-retest reliability. These results indicate that operator-induced uncertainty has a limited impact on kinematic simulations of spine flexion, while test-retest reliability has a much higher variability. The definition of the intervertebral joints in the framework was identified as the most sensitive operator-dependent parameter. Nevertheless, intervertebral joint estimations had small mean 90% confidence intervals (1.04°-1.75°). This work will contribute to understanding the limitations of kinematic simulations in ASD patients, thus leading to a better evaluation of future hypotheses.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.
(Copyright © 2021 Overbergh, Severijns, Beaucage-Gauvreau, Ackermans, Moke, Jonkers and Scheys.)