Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Article (94)
- In Proceedings (83)
- ZIB-Report (29)
- Book chapter (8)
- Poster (6)
- Other (5)
- Research data (4)
- Doctoral Thesis (2)
- In Collection (2)
- Master's Thesis (1)
Is part of the Bibliography
- no (234) (remove)
Keywords
- statistical shape and intensity models (5)
- Statistical shape analysis (3)
- 3d-reconstruction from 2d X-rays (2)
- 3d-reconstruction from 2d Xrays (2)
- Articulated Models, Statistical Shape And Intensity Models, 2D/3D Anatomy Reconstruction, Pelvic Parameters Measurement, Total Hip Arthroplasty (2)
- Classification (2)
- Kniegelenk (2)
- Lie groups (2)
- Manifold valued statistics (2)
- Medizinische Planung (2)
Institute
- Visual and Data-centric Computing (219)
- Visual Data Analysis (210)
- Therapy Planning (181)
- Numerical Mathematics (19)
- Computational Medicine (15)
- Visual Data Analysis in Science and Engineering (11)
- Geometric Data Analysis and Processing (6)
- Mathematics for Life and Materials Science (4)
- ZIB Allgemein (3)
- Computational Systems Biology (1)
Changes in knee shape and geometry resulting from total knee arthroplasty can affect patients in numerous important ways: pain, function, stability, range of motion, and kinematics. Quantitative data concerning these changes have not been previously available, to our knowledge, yet are essential to understand individual experiences of total knee arthroplasty and thereby improve outcomes for all patients. The limiting factor has been the challenge of accurately measuring these changes. Our study objective was to develop a conceptual framework and analysis method to investigate changes in knee shape and geometry, and prospectively apply it to a sample total knee arthroplasty population. Using clinically available computed tomography and radiography imaging systems, the three-dimensional knee shape and geometry of nine patients (eight varus and one valgus) were compared before and after total knee arthroplasty. All patients had largely good outcomes after their total knee arthroplasty. Knee shape changed both visually and numerically. On average, the distal condyles were slightly higher medially and lower laterally (range: +4.5 mm to −4.4 mm), the posterior condyles extended farther out medially but not laterally (range: +1.8 to −6.4 mm), patellofemoral distance increased throughout flexion by 1.8–3.5 mm, and patellar thickness alone increased by 2.9 mm (range: 0.7–5.2 mm). External femoral rotation differed preop and postop. Joint line distance, taking cartilage into account, changed by +0.7 to −1.5 mm on average throughout flexion. Important differences in shape and geometry were seen between pre-total knee arthroplasty and post-total knee arthroplasty knees. While this is qualitatively known, this is the first study to report it quantitatively, an important precursor to identifying the reasons for the poor outcome of some patients. Using the developed protocol and visualization techniques to compare patients with good versus poor clinical outcomes could lead to changes in implant design, implant selection, component positioning, and surgical technique. Recommendations based on this sample population are provided. Intraoperative and postoperative feedback could ultimately improve patient satisfaction.
Computed tomography analysis of knee pose and geometry before and after total knee arthroplasty
(2012)
Im Rahmen der biomechanischen Simulation knöcherner Organe ist die Frage nach einer befriedigenden Materialbeschreibung nach wie vor ungelöst. Computertomographische Datensätze liefern eine räumliche Verteilung der (Röntgen-)Dichte und ermöglichen damit eine gute Darstellung der individuellen Geometrie. Weiter können die verschiedenen Materialbestandteile des Knochens, Spongiosa und Kortikalis, voneinander getrennt werden. Aber die richtungsabängige Information der Materialanisotropie ist verloren. In dieser Arbeit wird ein Ansatz für eine anisotrope Materialbeschreibung vorgestellt, die es ermöglicht, den Einfluss der individuellen knöchernen Struktur auf das makroskopische Materialverhalten abzuschätzen.
The increasing demand for distributed solutions in computing technology does not stop when it comes to visualization techniques. However, the capabilities of todays applications to perform remote rendering are limited by historical design legacys. Especially the popular X11 protokoll, which has been proven to be extremely flexible and usefull for remote 2D graphics applications, breaks down for the case of remote 3D rendering. In this white paper, we give a short overview of generic remote rendering technologies available today, and compare their performance to the recently released vizserver by SGI: a network extension to the SGI OpenGL rendering engines.
Der Artikel gibt einen Einblick in das reiche Feld der Zusammenarbeit zwischen Mathematik und Medizin. Beispielhaft werden drei Erfolgsmodelle dargestellt: Medizinische Bildgebung, mathematische Modellierung und Biosignalverarbeitung im Bereich der Dynamik des Herzens sowie mathematische Modellierung und Simulation in der Krebstherapie Hyperthermie und der Mund-Kiefer-Gesichts-Chirurgie. In allen Fällen existiert ein Gleichklang der Interessen von Medizin und Mathematik: Beide Disziplinen wollen die Resultate schnell und zuverlässig. Für die Klinik heißt das, dass notwendige Rechnungen in möglichst kurzer Zeit, und zwar auf dem PC, ablaufen müssen und dass die Resultate so genau und belastbar sein müssen, dass medizinische Entscheidungen darauf aufbauen können. Für die Mathematik folgt daraus, dass höchste Anforderungen an die Effizienz der verwendeten Algorithmen und die darauf aufbauende Software in Numerik und Visualisierung zu stellen sind. Jedes Kapitel endet mit einer Darstellung der Perspektive des jeweiligen Gebietes. Abschließend werden mögliche Handlungsoptionen für Politik und Wirtschaft diskutiert.
In der Arbeit wird die computergestützte Planung von chirurgisch gesetzten Knochenfrakturen bzw. Knochenschnitten (sogenannten Osteotomien) an dreidimensionalen, computergrafischen Schädelmodellen, sowie die Umpositionierung separierter knöcherner Segmente im Kontext der rekonstruktiven MKG-Chirurgie behandelt. Durch die 3D Modellierung und Visualisierung anatomischer Strukturen, sowie der 3D Osteotomie- und Umstellungsplanung unter Einbeziehung der resultierenden Weichgewebedeformation wird den Chirurgen ein Werkzeug an die Hand gegeben, mit dem eine Therapieplanung am Computer durchgeführt und diese in Hinblick auf Funktion und Ästhetik bewertet werden kann. Unterschiedliche Strategien können dabei erprobt und in ihrer Auswirkung erfasst werden. Dazu wird ein methodischer Ansatz vorgestellt, der zum einen die chirurgische Planung im Vergleich zu existierenden Ansätzen deutlich verbessert und zum anderen eine robuste Weichgewebeprognose, durch den Einsatz geeigneter Planungsmodelle und eines physikalisch basierten Weichgewebemodells unter Nutzung numerischer Lösungsverfahren in die Planung integriert. Die Visualisierung der Planungsergebnisse erlaubt sowohl eine anschauliche und überzeugende, präoperative Patientenaufklärung, als auch die Demonstration möglicher Vorgehensweisen und deren Auswirkungen für die chirurgische Ausbildung. Ferner ergänzen die Planungsdaten die Falldokumentation und liefern einen Beitrag zur Qualitätssicherung. Die Arbeit ist in sieben Kapitel gegliedert und wie folgt strukturiert: Zuerst wird die medizinische Aufgabenstellung bei der chirurgischen Rekonstruktion von Knochenfehlbildungen und -fehlstellungen in der kraniofazialen Chirurgie sowie die daraus resultierenden Anforderungen an die Therapieplanung beschrieben. Anschließend folgt ein umfassender Überblick über entsprechende Vorarbeiten zur computergestützten Planung knochenverlagernder Operationen und eine kritische Bestandsaufnahme der noch vorhandenen Defizite. Nach der Vorstellung des eigenen Planungsansatzes wird die Generierung individueller, qualitativ hochwertiger 3D Planungsmodelle aus tomografischen Bilddaten beschrieben, die den Anforderungen an eine intuitive, 3D Planung von Umstellungsosteotomien entsprechen und eine Simulation der daraus resultierenden Weichgewebedeformation mittels der Finite-Elemente Methode (FEM) ermöglichen. Die Methoden der 3D Schnittplanung an computergrafischen Modellen werden analysiert und eine 3D Osteotomieplanung an polygonalen Schädelmodellen entwickelt, die es ermöglicht, intuitiv durch Definition von Schnittlinien am 3D Knochenmodell, eine den chirurgischen Anforderungen entsprechende Schnittplanung unter Berücksichtigung von Risikostrukturen durchzuführen. Separierte Knochensegmente lassen sich im Anschluss interaktiv umpositionieren und die resultierende Gesamtanordnung hinsichtlich einer funktionellen Rehabilitation bewerten. Aufgrund des in dieser Arbeit gewählten, physikalisch basierten Modellierungsansatzes kann unter Berücksichtigung des gesamten Weichgewebevolumens aus der Knochenverlagerung direkt die resultierende Gesichtsform berechnet werden. Dies wird anhand von 13 exemplarischen Fallstudien anschaulich demonstriert, wobei die Prognosequalität mittels postoperativer Fotografien und postoperativer CT-Daten überprüft und belegt wird. Die Arbeit wird mit einem Ausblick auf erweiterte Modellierungsansätze und einem Konzept für eine integrierte, klinisch einsetzbare Planungsumgebung abgeschlossen.
For medical diagnosis, visualization, and model-based therapy planning three-dimensional geometric reconstructions of individual anatomical structures are often indispensable. Computer-assisted, model-based planning procedures typically cover specific modifications of “virtual anatomy” as well as numeric simulations of associated phenomena, like e.g. mechanical loads, fluid dynamics, or diffusion processes, in order to evaluate a potential therapeutic outcome. Since internal anatomical structures cannot be measured optically or mechanically in vivo, three-dimensional reconstruction of tomographic image data remains the method of choice. In this work the process chain of individual anatomy reconstruction is described which consists of segmentation of medical image data, geometrical reconstruction of all relevant tissue interfaces, up to the generation of geometric approximations (boundary surfaces and volumetric meshes) of three-dimensional anatomy being suited for finite element analysis. All results presented herein are generated with amira ® – a highly interactive software system for 3D data analysis, visualization and geometry reconstruction.
It has been recently suggested that mechanical loads applied at frequencies close to the natural frequencies of bone could enhance bone apposition due to the resonance phenomenon. Other applications of bone modal analysis are also suggested. For the above-mentioned applications, it is important to understand how patient-specific bone shape and density distribution influence the natural frequencies of bones. We used finite element models to study the effects of bone shape and density distribution on the natural frequencies of the femur in free boundary conditions. A statistical shape and appearance model that describes shape and density distribution independently was created, based on a training set of 27 femora. The natural frequencies were then calculated for different shape modes varied around the mean shape while keeping the mean density distribution, for different appearance modes around the mean density distribution while keeping the mean bone shape, and for the 27 training femora. Single shape or appearance modes could cause up to 15% variations in the natural frequencies with certain modes having the greatest impact. For the actual femora, shape and
density distribution changed the natural frequencies by up to 38%. First appearance mode that describes the general cortical bone thickness and trabecular bone density had one of the strongest impacts. The first appearance mode could therefore provide a sensitive measure of general bone health and disease progression. Since shape and density could cause large variations in the calculated natural frequencies, patient-specific FE models are needed for accurate estimation of bone natural frequencies.
The authors report on the first experiences with the prototype of a surgical tool for cranial remodeling. The device enables the surgeon to transfer statistical information, represented in a model, into the disfigured bone. The model is derived from a currently evolving databank of normal head shapes. Ultimately, the databank will provide a set of standard models covering the statistical range of normal head shapes, thus providing the required template for any standard remodeling procedure as well as customized models for intended overcorrection. To date, this technique has been used in the surgical treatment of 14 infants (age range 6-12 months) with craniosynostosis. In all 14 cases, the designated esthetic result, embodied by the selected model, has been achieved, without morbidity or mortality. Frame-based reconstruction provides the required tools to precisely realize the surgical reproduction of the model shape. It enables the establishment of a self-referring system, feeding back postoperative growth patterns, recorded by 3D follow-up, into the model design.
Degenerative Gelenkerkrankungen, wie die Osteoarthrose, sind ein häufiges Krankheitsbild unter älteren Erwachsenen. Hierbei verringert sich u.a. der Gelenkspalt aufgrund degenerierten Knorpels oder geschädigter Menisci. Ein in den Gelenkspalt eingebrachter interpositionaler Spacer soll die mit der Osteoarthrose einhergehende verringerte Gelenkkontaktfläche erhöhen und so der teilweise oder vollständige Gelenkersatz hinausgezögert oder vermieden werden.
In dieser Arbeit präsentieren wir eine Planungssoftware für die Auswahl und Positionierung eines interpositionalen Spacers am Patientenmodell.
Auf einer MRT-basierten Bildsegmentierung aufbauend erfolgt eine geometrische Rekonstruktion der 3D-Anatomie des Kniegelenks. Anhand dieser wird der Gelenkspalt bestimmt, sowie ein Spacer ausgewählt und algorithmisch vorpositioniert. Die Positionierung des Spacers ist durch den Benutzer jederzeit interaktiv anpassbar.
Für jede Positionierung eines Spacers wird ein Fitness-Wert zur Knieanatomie des jeweiligen Patienten berechnet und den Nutzern Rückmeldung hinsichtlich Passgenauigkeit gegeben. Die Software unterstützt somit als Entscheidungshilfe die behandelnden Ärzte bei der patientenspezifischen Spacerauswahl.
We demonstrate, based on data derived from computed tomography, that integrating 2D and 3D morphological data of ammonoid shells represent an important new approach to disentangle the palaeobiology of ammonoids. Characterization of ammonite morphology has long been constrained to 2D data and only a few studies collect ontogenetic data in 180° steps. We combine this traditional approach with 3D data collected from high-resolution nano-computed tomography. For this approach, ontogenetic morphological data of the hollow shell of a juvenile ammonite Kosmoceras (Jurassic, Callovian) is collected.
2D data is collected in 10° steps and show significant changes in shell morphology. Preserved hollow spines show multiple mineralized membranes never reported before, representing temporal changes of the ammonoid mantle tissue. 3D data show that chamber volumes do not always increase exponentially, as was generally assumed, but may represent a proxy for life events, e.g. stress phases. Furthermore, chamber volume cannot be simply derived from septal spacing in forms comparable to Kosmoceras. Vogel numbers, a 3D parameter for chamber shape, of Kosmoceras are similar to other ammonoids (Arnsbergites, Amauroceras) and modern cephalopods (Nautilus, Spirula). Two methods to virtually document the suture line ontogeny, used to document phylogenetic relationships of larger taxonomic entities, were applied for the first time and seem a promising alternative to hand drawings. The curvature of the chamber surfaces increases during ontogeny due to increasing strength of ornamentation and septal complexity. As increasing curvature may allow for faster handling of cameral liquid, it could compensate for decreasing SA/V ratios through ontogeny.
In an aging society where the number of joint replacements rises, it is important to also increase the longevity of implants.
In particular hip implants have a lifetime of at most 15 years. This derives primarily from
pain due to implant migration, wear, inflammation, and dislocation, which is affected by
the positioning of the implant during the surgery. Current joint replacement practice uses
2D software tools and relies on the experience of surgeons. Especially the 2D tools fail to
take the patients’ natural range of motion as well as stress distribution in the 3D joint
induced by different daily motions into account.
Optimizing the hip joint implant position for all possible parametrized motions under the
constraint of a contact problem is prohibitively expensive as there are too many motions
and every position change demands a recalculation of the contact problem. For the
reduction of the computational effort, we use adaptive refinement on the parameter
domain coupled with the interpolation method of Kriging. A coarse initial grid is to be
locally refined using goal-oriented error estimation, reducing locally high variances. This
approach will be combined with multi-grid optimization such that numerical errors are
reduced.
In this study we investigate methods for fitting a Statistical Shape Model (SSM) to intraoperatively acquired point cloud data from a surgical navigation system. We validate the fitted models against the pre-operatively acquired Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data from the same patients.
We consider a cohort of 10 patients who underwent navigated total knee arthroplasty. As part of the surgical protocol the patients’ distal femurs were partially digitized. All patients had an MRI scan two months pre-operatively. The MRI data were manually segmented and the reconstructed bone surfaces used as ground truth against which the fit was compared. Two methods were used to fit the SSM to the data, based on (1) Iterative Closest Points (ICP) and (2) Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM).
For both approaches, the difference between model fit and ground truth surface averaged less than 1.7 mm and excellent correspondence with the distal femoral morphology can be demonstrated.
We propose a novel Riemannian framework for statistical analysis of shapes that is able to account for the nonlinearity in shape variation. By adopting a physical perspective, we introduce a differential representation that puts the local geometric variability into focus. We model these differential coordinates as elements of a Lie group thereby endowing our shape space with a non-Euclidean structure. A key advantage of our framework is that statistics in a manifold shape space becomes numerically tractable improving performance by several orders of magnitude over state-of-the-art. We show that our Riemannian model is well suited for the identification of intra-population variability as well as inter-population differences. In particular, we demonstrate the superiority of the proposed model in experiments on specificity and generalization ability. We further derive a statistical shape descriptor that outperforms the standard Euclidean approach in terms of shape-based classification of morphological disorders.
Maxillofacial surgery planning with 3D soft tissue prediction - modeling, planning, simulation
(2005)
Realistic prediction of individual facial emotion expressions for craniofacial surgery simulations
(2003)
From Image Data to Three-Dimensional Models - Case Studies on the Impact of 3D Patient Models
(2002)
3D Osteotomieplanung in der MKG-Chirurgie unter Berücksichtigung der räumlichen Weichgewebeanordnung
(2001)
Non-invasive approach to shed new light on the buoyancy business of chambered cephalopods (Mollusca)
(2011)
The Ammonoidea is a group of extinct cephalopods ideal to study evolution through deep time. The evolution of the planispiral shell and complexly folded septa in ammonoids has been thought to have increased the functional surface area of the chambers permitting enhanced metabolic functions such as: chamber emptying, rate of mineralization and increased growth rates throughout ontogeny. Using nano-computed tomography and synchrotron radiation based micro-computed tomography, we present the first study of ontogenetic changes in surface area to volume ratios in the phragmocone chambers of several phylogenetically distant ammonoids and extant cephalopods. Contrary to the initial hypothesis, ammonoids do not possess a persistently high relative chamber surface area. Instead, the functional surface area of the chambers is higher in earliest ontogeny when compared to Spirula spirula. The higher the functional surface area the quicker the potential emptying rate of the chamber; quicker chamber emptying rates would theoretically permit faster growth. This is supported by the persistently higher siphuncular surface area to chamber volume ratio we collected for the ammonite Amauroceras sp. compared to either S. spirula or nautilids. We demonstrate that the curvature of the surface of the chamber increases with greater septal complexity increasing the potential refilling rates. We further show a unique relationship between ammonoid chamber shape and size that does not exist in S. spirula or nautilids. This view of chamber function also has implications for the evolution of the internal shell of coleoids, relating this event to the decoupling of soft-body growth and shell growth.
Background: Fossil ticks are extremely rare, whereby Ixodes succineus Weidner, 1964 from Eocene (ca. 44-49 Ma) Baltic amber is one of the oldest examples of a living hard tick genus (Ixodida: Ixodidae). Previous work suggested it was most closely related to the modern and widespread European sheep tick Ixodes ricinus (Linneaus, 1758).
Results: Restudy using phase contrast synchrotron x-ray tomography yielded images of exceptional quality. These confirm the fossil's referral to Ixodes Latreille, 1795, but the characters resolved here suggest instead affinities with the Asian subgenus Partipalpiger Hoogstraal et al., 1973 and its single living (and medically significant) species Ixodes ovatus Neumann, 1899. We redescribe the amber fossil here as Ixodes (Partipalpiger) succineus.
Conclusions: Our data suggest that Ixodes ricinus is unlikely to be directly derived from Weidner's amber species, but instead reveals that the Partipalpiger lineage was originally more widely distributed across the northern hemisphere. The closeness of Ixodes (P.) succineus to a living vector of a wide range of pathogens offers the potential to correlate its spatial and temporal position (northern Europe, nearly 50 million years ago) with the estimated origination dates of various tick-borne diseases.
The reconstruction of an object's shape or surface from a set of 3D points is a common topic in materials and life sciences, computationally handled in computer graphics. Such points usually stem from optical or tactile 3D coordinate measuring equipment. Surface reconstruction also appears in medical image analysis, e.g. in anatomy reconstruction from tomographic measurements or the alignment of intra-operative navigation and preoperative planning data. In contrast to mere 3D point clouds, medical imaging yields contextual information on the 3D point data that can be used to adopt prior information on the shape that is to be reconstructed from the measurements. In this work we propose to use a statistical shape model (SSM) as a prior for surface reconstruction. The prior knowledge is represented by a point distribution model (PDM) that is associated with a surface mesh. Using the shape distribution that is modelled by the PDM, we reformulate the problem of surface reconstruction from a probabilistic perspective based on a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). In order to do so, the given measurements are interpreted as samples of the GMM. By using mixture components with anisotropic covariances that are oriented according to the surface normals at the PDM points, a surface-based tting is accomplished. By estimating the parameters of the GMM in a maximum a posteriori manner, the reconstruction of the surface from the given measurements is achieved. Extensive experiments suggest that our proposed approach leads to superior surface reconstructions compared to Iterative Closest Point (ICP) methods.
Comparative cephalopod shell strength and the role of septum morphology on stress distribution
(2016)
The evolution of complexly folded septa in ammonoids has long been a controversial topic. Explanations of the function of these folded septa can be divided into physiological and mechanical hypotheses with the mechanical functions tending to find widespread support. The complexity of the cephalopod shell has made it difficult to directly test the mechanical properties of these structures without oversimplification of the septal morphology or extraction of a small sub-domain. However, the power of modern finite element analysis now permits direct testing of mechanical hypothesis on complete, empirical models of the shells taken from computed tomographic data. Here we compare, for the first time using empirical models, the capability of the shells of extant Nautilus pompilius, Spirula spirula, and the extinct ammonite Cadoceras sp. to withstand hydrostatic pressure and point loads. Results show hydrostatic pressure imparts highest stress on the final septum with the rest of the shell showing minimal compression. S. spirula shows the lowest stress under hydrostatic pressure while N. pompilius shows the highest stress. Cadoceras sp. shows the development of high stress along the attachment of the septal saddles with the shell wall. Stress due to point loads decreases when the point force is directed along the suture as opposed to the unsupported chamber wall. Cadoceras sp. shows the greatest decrease in stress between the point loads compared to all other models. Greater amplitude of septal flutes corresponds with greater stress due to hydrostatic pressure; however, greater amplitude decreases the stress magnitude of point loads directed along the suture. In our models, sutural complexity does not predict greater resistance to hydrostatic pressure but it does seem to increase resistance to point loads, such as would be from predators. This result permits discussion of palaeoecological reconstructions on the basis of septal morphology. We further suggest that the ratio used to characterize septal morphology in the septal strength index and in calculations of tensile strength of nacre are likely insufficient. A better understanding of the material properties of cephalopod nacre may allow the estimation of maximum depth limits of shelled cephalopods through finite element analysis.
Background: Currently, there is no fully sufficient way to differentiate between symptomatic and normal nasal breathing. Using the nose’s total resistance is disputed as a valid means to objectify nasal airflow, and the need for a more comprehensive diagnostic method is increasing. This work’s aim was to test a novel approach considering intranasal wall shear stress as well as static pressure maps obtained by computational fluid dynamics (CFD).
Methods: X-ray computed tomography (CT) scan data of six symptom-free subjects and seven symptomatic patients were used. Patient-specific geometries of the nasal cavity were segmented from these data sets. Inspiratory and expiratory steady airflow simulations were performed using CFD. Calculated static pressures and wall shear stresses (WSS) were mapped onto a common template of the nasal septum, allowing for comparison of these parameters between the two patient groups.
Results: Significant differences in wall shear stress distributions during the inspiratory phase could be identified between the two groups, whereas no differences were found for the expiratory phase. It is assumed that one essential feature of normal nasal breathing probably consists in distinctively different intranasal flow fields for inspiration and expiration. This is in accordance with previous investigations.
Conclusion: The proposed method seems to be a promising tool for developing a new kind of patient-specific assessment of nasal breathing. However, more studies and a greater case number of data with an expanded focus, would be ideal.
Temperature-based estimation of time of death (ToD) can be per-
formed either with the help of simple phenomenological models of corpse
cooling or with detailed mechanistic (thermodynamic) heat transfer mod-
els. The latter are much more complex, but allow a higher accuracy of
ToD estimation as in principle all relevant cooling mechanisms can be
taken into account.
The potentially higher accuracy depends on the accuracy of tissue and
environmental parameters as well as on the geometric resolution. We in-
vestigate the impact of parameter variations and geometry representation
on the estimated ToD based on a highly detailed 3D corpse model, that
has been segmented and geometrically reconstructed from a computed to-
mography (CT) data set, differentiating various organs and tissue types.
From that we identify the most crucial parameters to measure or estimate,
and obtain a local uncertainty quantifcation for the ToD.
Geometric morphometrics plays an important role in evolutionary studies. The state-of-the-art in this field are landmark-based methods. Since the landmarks usually need to be placed manually, only a limited number of landmarks are generally used to represent the shape of an anatomical structure. As a result, shape characteristics that cannot be properly represented by small sets of landmarks are disregarded.
In this study, we present a method that is free of this limitation. The method takes into account the whole shape of an anatomical structure, which is represented as a surface, hence the term ‘surface-based morphometrics’. Correspondence between two surfaces is established by defining a partitioning of the surfaces into homologous surface patches. The first step for the generation of a surface partitioning is to place landmarks on the surface. Subsequently, the landmarks are connected by curves lying on the surface. The curves, called ‘surface paths’, might either follow specific anatomical features or they can be geodesics, that is, shortest paths on the surface. One important requirement, however, is that the resulting surface path networks are topologically equivalent across all surfaces. Once the surface path networks have been defined, the surfaces are decomposed into patches according to the path networks.
This approach has several advantages. One of them is that we can discretize the surface by as many points as desired. Thus, even fine shape details can be resolved if this is of interest for the study. Since a point discretization is used, another advantage is that well-established analysis methods for landmark-based morphometrics can be utilized. Finally, the shapes can be easily morphed into one another, thereby greatly supporting the understanding of shape changes across all considered specimens.
To show the potential of the described method for evolutionary studies of biological specimens, we applied the method to the para-basisphenoid complex of the snake genus Eirenis. By using this anatomical structure as example, we present all the steps that are necessary for surface-based morphometrics, including the segmentation of the para-basisphenoid complex from micro-CT data sets. We also show some first results using statistical analysis as well as classification methods based on the presented technique.
In this study we investigate methods for fitting a Statistical Shape Model (SSM) to intraoperatively acquired point cloud data from a surgical navigation system. We validate the fitted models against the pre-operatively acquired Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data from the same patients.
We consider a cohort of 10 patients who underwent navigated total knee arthroplasty. As part of the surgical protocol the patients’ distal femurs were partially digitized. All patients had an MRI scan two months pre-operatively. The MRI data were manually segmented and the reconstructed bone surfaces used as ground truth against which the fit was compared. Two methods were used to fit the SSM to the data, based on (1) Iterative Closest Points (ICP) and (2) Gaussian Mixture Models (GMM).
For both approaches, the difference between model fit and ground truth surface averaged less than 1.7 mm and excellent correspondence with the distal femoral morphology can be demonstrated.
Degenerative Gelenkerkrankungen, wie die Osteoarthrose, sind ein häufiges Krankheitsbild unter älteren Erwachsenen. Hierbei verringert sich u.a. der Gelenkspalt aufgrund degenerierten Knorpels oder geschädigter Menisci. Ein in den Gelenkspalt eingebrachter interpositionaler Spacer soll die mit der Osteoarthrose einhergehende verringerte Gelenkkontaktfläche erhöhen und so der teilweise oder vollständige Gelenkersatz hinausgezögert oder vermieden werden.
In dieser Arbeit präsentieren wir eine Planungssoftware für die Auswahl und Positionierung eines interpositionalen Spacers am Patientenmodell. Auf einer MRT-basierten Bildsegmentierung aufbauend erfolgt eine geometrische Rekonstruktion der 3D-Anatomie des Kniegelenks. Anhand dieser wird der Gelenkspalt bestimmt, sowie ein Spacer ausgewählt und algorithmisch vorpositioniert. Die Positionierung des Spacers ist durch den Benutzer jederzeit interaktiv anpassbar.
Für jede Positionierung eines Spacers wird ein Fitness-Wert zur Knieanatomie des jeweiligen Patienten berechnet und den Nutzern Rückmeldung hinsichtlich Passgenauigkeit gegeben. Die Software unterstützt somit als Entscheidungshilfe die behandelnden Ärzte bei der patientenspezifischen Spacerauswahl.
Temperature-based estimation of time of death (ToD) can be per-
formed either with the help of simple phenomenological models of corpse
cooling or with detailed mechanistic (thermodynamic) heat transfer mod-
els. The latter are much more complex, but allow a higher accuracy of
ToD estimation as in principle all relevant cooling mechanisms can be
taken into account.
The potentially higher accuracy depends on the accuracy of tissue and
environmental parameters as well as on the geometric resolution. We in-
vestigate the impact of parameter variations and geometry representation
on the estimated ToD based on a highly detailed 3D corpse model, that
has been segmented and geometrically reconstructed from a computed to-
mography (CT) data set, differentiating various organs and tissue types.
The reconstruction of an object’s shape or surface from a set of 3D points plays an important role in medical image analysis, e.g. in anatomy reconstruction from tomographic measurements or in the process of aligning intra-operative navigation and preoperative planning data. In such scenarios, one usually has to deal with sparse data, which significantly aggravates the problem of reconstruction. However, medical applications often provide contextual information about the 3D point data that allow to incorporate prior knowledge about the shape that is to be reconstructed. To this end, we propose the use of a statistical shape model (SSM) as a prior for surface reconstruction. The SSM is represented by a point distribution model (PDM), which is associated with a surface mesh. Using the shape distribution that is modelled by the PDM, we formulate the problem of surface reconstruction from a probabilistic perspective based on a Gaussian Mixture Model (GMM). In order to do so, the given points are interpreted as samples of the GMM. By using mixture components with anisotropic covariances that are “oriented” according to the surface normals at the PDM points, a surface-based fitting is accomplished. Estimating the parameters of the GMM in a maximum a posteriori manner yields the reconstruction of the surface from the given data points. We compare our method to the extensively used Iterative Closest Points method on several different anatomical datasets/SSMs (brain, femur, tibia, hip, liver) and demonstrate superior accuracy and robustness on sparse data.
Purpose: Morphological data pertaining to the pelvis and lower extremity muscles are increasingly being used in biomechanical modeling to compare healthy and pathological conditions. Very few data sets exist that encompass all of the muscles of the lower limb, allowing for comparisons between regions. The aims of this study were to (a) provide physiological cross-sectional area (PCSA) data for the pelvic, thigh, and leg muscles in young, healthy participants, using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and (b) to compare these data with summarized PCSAs obtained from the literature.
Materials and Methods: Six young and healthy volunteers participated and were scanned using 3 T MRI. PCSAs were calculated from volumetric segmentations obtained bilaterally of 28 muscles/muscle groups of the pelvis, thigh, and leg. These data were compared to published, summarized PCSA data derived from cadaveric, computed tomography, MRI and ultrasound studies.
Results: The PCSA of the pelvis, thigh, and leg muscles tended to be 20–130% larger in males than in females, except for the gemelli which were 34% smaller in males, and semitendinosus and triceps surae which did not differ (<20% different). The dominant and the non-dominant sides showed similar and minutely different PCSA with less than 18% difference between sides. Comparison to other studies revealed wide ranges within, and large differences between, the cadaveric and imaging PCSA data. Comparison of the PCSA of this study and published literature revealed major differences in the iliopsoas, gluteus minimus, tensor fasciae latae, gemelli, obturator internus, biceps femoris, quadriceps femoris, and the deep leg flexor muscles.
Conclusions: These volume-derived PCSAs of the pelvic and lower limb muscles alongside the data synthesised from the literature may serve as a basis for comparative and biomechanical studies of the living and healthy young, and enable calculation of muscle forces. Comparison of the literature revealed large variations in PCSA from each of the different investigative modalities, hampering omparability between studies. Sample size, age, post-mortem changes of muscle tone, chemical fixation of cadaveric tissues, and the underlying physics of the imaging techniques may potentially influence PCSA calculations.
Deformable model-based approaches to 3D image segmentation have been shown to be highly successful. Such methodology requires an appearance model that drives the deformation of a geometric model to the image data. Appearance models are usually either created heuristically or through supervised learning. Heuristic methods have been shown to work effectively in many applications but are hard to transfer from one application (imaging modality/anatomical structure) to another. On the contrary, supervised learning approaches can learn patterns from a collection of annotated training data. In this work, we show that the supervised joint dictionary learning technique is capable of overcoming the traditional drawbacks of the heuristic approaches. Our evaluation based on two different applications (liver/CT and knee/MR) reveals that our approach generates appearance models, which can be used effectively and efficiently in a deformable model-based segmentation framework.
Purpose: A fully automated surgical tool detection framework is proposed for endoscopic video streams. State-of-the-art surgical tool detection methods rely on supervised one-vs-all or multi-class classification techniques, completely ignoring the co-occurrence relationship of the tools and the associated class imbalance.
Methods: In this paper, we formulate tool detection as a multi-label classification task where tool co-occurrences are treated as separate classes. In addition, imbalance on tool co-occurrences is analyzed and stratification techniques are employed to address the imbalance during Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) training. Moreover, temporal smoothing is introduced as an online post-processing step to enhance run time prediction.
Results: Quantitative analysis is performed on the M2CAI16 tool detection dataset to highlight the importance of stratification, temporal smoothing and the overall framework for tool detection.
Conclusion: The analysis on tool imbalance, backed by the empirical results indicates the need and superiority of the proposed framework over state-of-the-art techniques.
Temperature based death time estimation is based either on simple phenomenological models of corpse cooling or on detailed physical heat transfer models. The latter are much more complex, but allow a higher accuracy of death time estimation as in principle all relevant cooling mechanisms can be taken into account. Here, a complete work flow for finite element based cooling simulation models is presented.
The following steps are demonstrated on CT-phantoms:
• CT-scan
• Segmentation of the CT images for thermodynamically relevant features of individual
geometries
• Conversion of the segmentation result into a Finite Element (FE) simulation model
• Computation of the model cooling curve
• Calculation of the cooling time
For the first time in FE-based cooling time estimation the steps from the CT image over segmentation to FE model generation are semi-automatically performed. The cooling time calculation results are compared to cooling measurements performed on the phantoms under controlled conditions. In this context, the method is validated using different CTphantoms. Some of the CT phantoms thermodynamic material parameters had to be experimentally determined via independent experiments. Moreover the impact of geometry and material parameter uncertainties on the estimated cooling time is investigated by a sensitivity analysis.
This article reflects the research of the last two decades in computational planning for cranio-maxillofacial surgery. Model-guided and computer-assisted surgery planning has tremendously developed due to ever increasing computational capabilities. Simulators for education, planning, and training of surgery are often compared with flight simulators, where maneuvers are also trained to reduce a possible risk of failure. Meanwhile, digital patient models can be derived from medical image data with astonishing accuracy and thus can serve for model surgery to derive a surgical template model that represents the envisaged result. Computerized surgical planning approaches, however, are often still explorative, meaning that a surgeon tries to find a therapeutic concept based on his or her expertise using computational tools that are mimicking real procedures. Future perspectives of an improved computerized planning may be that surgical objectives will be generated algorithmically by employing mathematical modeling, simulation, and optimization techniques. Planning systems thus act as intelligent decision support systems. However, surgeons can still use the existing tools to vary the proposed approach, but they mainly focus on how to transfer objectives into reality. Such a development may result in a paradigm shift for future surgery planning.
Enhancements in tomographic imaging techniques facilitate non-destructive methods for visualizing fossil structures. However, to penetrate dense materials such as sediments or pyrites, image acquisition is typically performed with high beam energy and very sensitive image intensifiers, leading to artifacts and noise in the acquired data. The analysis of delicate fossil structures requires the images to be captured in maximum resolution, resulting in large data sets of several giga bytes (GB) in size. Since the structural information of interest is often almost in the same spatial range as artifacts and noise, image processing and segmentation algorithms have to cope with a very low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
Within this report we present a study on the performance of a collection of denoising algorithms applied to a very noisy fossil dataset. The study shows that a non-local means (NLM) filter, in case it is properly configured, is able to remove a considerable amount of noise while preserving most of the structural information of interest. Based on the results of this study, we developed a software tool within ZIBAmira that denoises large tomographic datasets using an adaptive, GPU-accelerated NLM filter. With the help of our implementation a user can interactively configure the filter's parameters and thus its effectiveness with respect to the data of interest, while the filtering response is instantly visualized for a preselected region of interest (ROI). Our implementation efficiently denoises even large fossil datasets in a reasonable amount of time.
Statistical shape models (SSM) describe the shape variability contained in a given population. They are able to describe large populations of complex shapes with few degrees of freedom. This makes them a useful tool for a variety of tasks that arise in computer-aided madicine. In this chapter we are going to explain the basic methodology of SSMs and present a variety of examples, where SSMs have been successfully applied.
The Facial Profile
(2015)
Facial appearance in our societies is often associated with notions of attractiveness, juvenileness, beauty, success, and so forth. Hence, the role of facial plastic surgery is highly interrelated to a patient's desire to feature many of these positively connoted attributes, which of course, are subject of different cultural perceptions or social trends. To judge about somebody's facial appearance, appropriate quantitative measures as well as methods to obtain and compare individual facial features are required.
This special issue on facial profile is intended to provide an overview on how facial characteristics are surgically managed in an interdisciplinary way based on experience, instrumentation, and modern technology to obtain an aesthetic facial appearance with harmonious facial proportions.
The facial profile will be discussed within the context of facial aesthetics. Latest concepts for capturing facial morphology in high speed and impressive detail are presented for quantitative analysis of even subtle changes, aging effects, or facial expressions. In addition, the perception of facial profiles is evaluated based on eye tracking technology.
Several non-invasive methods are common practice in natural sciences today. Here we present how they can be applied and contribute to current topics in cephalopod (paleo-) biology. Different methods will be compared in terms of time necessary to acquire the data, amount of data, accuracy/resolution, minimum/maximum size of objects that can be studied, the degree of post-processing needed and availability. The main application of the methods is seen in morphometry and volumetry of cephalopod shells. In particular we present a method for precise buoyancy calculation. Therefore, cephalopod shells were scanned together with different reference bodies, an approach developed in medical sciences. It is necessary to know the volume of the reference bodies, which should have similar absorption properties like the object of interest. Exact volumes can be obtained from surface scanning. Depending on the dimensions of the study object different computed tomography techniques were applied.