1 research outputs found
A fast and robust patient specific Finite Element mesh registration technique: application to 60 clinical cases
Finite Element mesh generation remains an important issue for patient
specific biomechanical modeling. While some techniques make automatic mesh
generation possible, in most cases, manual mesh generation is preferred for
better control over the sub-domain representation, element type, layout and
refinement that it provides. Yet, this option is time consuming and not suited
for intraoperative situations where model generation and computation time is
critical. To overcome this problem we propose a fast and automatic mesh
generation technique based on the elastic registration of a generic mesh to the
specific target organ in conjunction with element regularity and quality
correction. This Mesh-Match-and-Repair (MMRep) approach combines control over
the mesh structure along with fast and robust meshing capabilities, even in
situations where only partial organ geometry is available. The technique was
successfully tested on a database of 5 pre-operatively acquired complete femora
CT scans, 5 femoral heads partially digitized at intraoperative stage, and 50
CT volumes of patients' heads. The MMRep algorithm succeeded in all 60 cases,
yielding for each patient a hex-dominant, Atlas based, Finite Element mesh with
submillimetric surface representation accuracy, directly exploitable within a
commercial FE software