Placing implant templates
Templates are scaled overlays of real implants, drawn from the manufacturer’s own dimensions. Once placed, the overlay represents the implant’s footprint at the scale you set when you calibrated the radiograph. That is the whole dependency: the overlay is only as accurate as the calibration behind it, so check the calibration before you rely on a fit.
Why won’t the app let me place a template?
Calibrate the radiograph first. The Implants tab will refuse to arm a template without a scale set.
How do I place an implant template?
- Open the Implants sidebar tab. It lists the implants you have recently placed.
- For any other implant, search or filter by brand, system, and screw diameter.
- Click the template you want. A translucent ghost appears on the cursor.
- Move to the position you want and click to commit.
Every plate arrives standing up — its long axis vertical — in the list, on the ghost and where it lands, whichever way the manufacturer’s drawing was laid out. The ghost is screen-aligned during placement — it doesn’t rotate with the X-ray. Once placed, the implant becomes anchored to the bone: if you later rotate the radiograph to view the leg differently, the implant rotates with it.
How do I cancel a placement?
- Press Escape while the ghost is showing — cancels without placing.
- Right-click the canvas — same effect.
- Click the armed template’s sidebar button again — unarms.
How do I compare or swap plate sizes?
When an implant is selected, a swap panel appears in the bottom-left corner of the films. From here you can:
- Switch sister variants — slide between hole counts and sizes within the same family.
- Toggle Left/Right for side-specific implants.
- Toggle front/side view of the implant.
- Delete the placed implant (trash icon).
With more than four sizes to choose from, the size row is a slider: the implant on the film changes as you drag it, so you can judge the fit against the bone as you go, and the whole drag is still a single undo step. Use the − / + buttons to step one size at a time. With four or fewer, the row is one button per size. The implant’s centre position and the way it points are preserved across swaps, so you can iterate on size without re-aiming.
The panel keeps the same rows for every size of an implant. Where some sizes offer a choice that others don’t — a second length, say — that row stays for every size and is greyed out where there is nothing to choose, so the size slider and its − / + buttons never move under your pointer.
If a placed implant has no sister variants to swap to, the panel shows just its name and the buttons in its header.
Where does the implant panel sit, and can I move it?
- Drag it by its header to anywhere over the films. It stays where you leave it.
- Put it in the sidebar with the button in its header. It then sits at the top of the Implants tab, pinned above the implant search, and selecting an implant opens the sidebar on that tab. Float the implant panel over the films, the first button in its header there, floats it back out.
- Close it with the ×, which deselects the implant.
The app remembers whether the panel floats or sits in the sidebar for your account, on every computer. On a phone, or any window too narrow to keep the sidebar open beside the films, the panel always sits in the tools drawer.
How do I move, turn or delete a placed implant?
- Move: click and drag the body of the implant.
- Rotate: drag either of the cyan circles at the implant’s two ends. The implant turns about the other end, which stays where it is.
- Delete: select it and press Delete or Backspace, or use the trash button in the swap panel.
Where are the implants I used last?
They are what the Implants tab opens on. Before you search or filter, the list holds only the implants you have recently placed, the most recent first, under the heading Recently used — not the rest of their brand or family. The line beneath them says how many implants the whole library holds.
- An implant you re-sized counts as the size you left it on. Place a plate, slide it to another size with the swap panel, and the size you settled on is the one that is listed.
- A sided plate follows the film. If you last used a plate made for a right leg and today’s film is a left, the list offers the same plate made for the left.
- The list does not shuffle while you are looking at it. A plate you have just placed moves to the top the next time the list comes on screen.
- The list belongs to your account on the browser you are using. It reaches back a year.
Why is the implant list empty? Where are all the implants, and why can’t I see any?
Nothing is missing. Until you have placed an implant, the Implants tab has no recently used implants to show, so it tells you how many the library holds instead. Type in Search implants, or choose a Brand or System, and the matching implants are listed. Clear the search and filters and the list goes back to the implants you have placed.
If the tab says No implants in the library, that is different: nothing loaded for your account. Reload the page, and tell us if it stays empty.
How accurate are the templates?
- Overlay dimensions reflect the manufacturer’s specifications encoded in the template library. If a template’s dimensions look off, report it — it’s almost certainly a library data issue, not a calibration issue.
- Screw hole positions are derived from manufacturer drawings where available. Visual screw placement is a planning aid, not a substitute for intraoperative judgement.