Realistic modeling of elasto-mechanical properties of soft tissue and its evaluation

Abstract

Computer-based techniques for the simulation of craniofacial surgical procedures and for the prediction of the surgical outcome have been shown to be very useful. However, the assessment of the accuracy of the simulated surgical outcome is difficult. In this paper, a technique is described, which allows to compare the simulated surgical outcome and the actual surgical result. The surgery simulation is based on a preoperative CT scan of the patient's head and on a preoperative surface scan of the patient's face. The simulated postoperative patient's appearance is compared to a second surface scan, which is obtained postoperatively. The pre- and postoperative surface scans, which are different due to the surgery, are registered employing a robust registration method, which minimizes the median of Euclidean distances of corresponding points. Parameters of the soft-tissue model, which is used for the surgical simulation process, can be adapted with respect to minimized differences of corresponding points of the simulated postoperative and the actual postoperative surface of a patient's face.