To investigate glenoid morphology and orientation in a Chinese population using 3D reconstruction and scanning image standardization.

Data of 98 cases of normal shoulder CT scan in China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University from January 2013 to June 2017 were collected. There were 36 males and 62 females, aged from 21 to 80 years, with an average of (51±14) years. The patient's CT data were imported into Mimics software for parallel three-dimensional CT reconstruction. The scapular plane was established to recalibrate the scanned image to avoid the influence of scanning angle and patient's posture. The 3-matic and Geomagic software were used to fit the joint glenoid surface into a 3D scatter model to determine the center of the glenoid and the plane of the glenoid fitting. Quantitatively analyze the normal human glenoid height, width, surface area, glenoid twist angle and tilt angle.

The average height of the glenoid was (35.2±2.9) mm, the width was (26.9±2.6) mm and the surface area was (824±143) mm². The torsion angle was posterior (1.01±4.07) ° and the tilt angle was upward (8.89±4.71)°. There was no statistical difference in the above parameters, but the height, width and surface area of glenoid in male were significantly higher than those of females (P<0.01). Correlation analysis showed that there was a significant positive correlation between height and glenoid size (r=0.815, P<0.01).

The three-dimensional reconstruction technique has high accuracy and repeatability for the analysis of glenoid morphological parameters, which is of reference value to optimize the design of glenoid prosthesis in Chinese. The predicted height of the Chinese subjects that corresponded to a glenoid width of standard 29 mm which designed based on Europeans and Americans was over 175 cm.