Rule-Based Ventral Cavity Multi-organ Automatic Segmentation in CT Scans

We describe a newmethod for the automatic segmentation of multiple organs of the ventral cavity in CT scans. The methodisbasedonasetofrulesthatdeterminetheorderin which theorgansare isolatedand segmented, from the sim- plestonetothemostdifficultone. First,thebodyisisolated from the background. Second, the trachea and the left and right lungsare segmentedbasedon theirair content.Third, thespleenandthekidneys–theorganswithhighbloodcon- tent–aresegmented. Finally,thekidneyissegmentedbased onthesurroundingorganssegmentation. Eachorganisindi- vidually segmentedwitha four-stepprocedure that consists of: 1) definition of an inclusive region of interest; 2) identi- fication of the largest axial cross-section slice; 3) Semoval of background structuresbymorphologicaloperations,and; 4) 3D region growing segmentation. Ourmethod is unique in that ituses the same generic segmentation approach for all organsand in that it relieson the segmentationdifficultyof organs toguide the segmentationprocess. Experimental re- sultson15CTscansoftheVISCERALAnatomy2Challenge trainingdatasetsyieldaDicevolumeoverlapsimilarityscore of 79.1 for the trachea, 97.4 and 97.6 for the left and right lungs, 89.2 for the spleen, and 92.8 for the left kidney. For the5CT scans testdatasets, theDice scoresare97.9,97.0, 85.6, 93.4 and 90.2, respectively. Our method achieved an overallDICE score of 92.8 andwas ranked first among the fivemethodsthatparticipated inthechallenge. Copyright c © by the paper’s authors. Copying permitted only for private and academic purposes

Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) for Bioprinting

Three-dimensional (3D) printing of human tissues and organs has been an exciting area of research for almost three decades [Bonassar and Vacanti. J Cell Biochem. 72(Suppl 30-31):297-303 (1998)]. The primary goal of bioprinting, presently, is achieving printed constructs with the overarching aim toward fully functional tissues and organs. Technology, in hand with the development of bioinks, has been identified as the key to this success. As a result, the place of computer-aided systems (design and manufacturing-CAD/CAM) cannot be underestimated and plays a significant role in this area. Unlike many reviews in this field, this chapter focuses on the technology required for 3D bioprinting from an initial background followed by the exciting area of medical imaging and how it plays a role in bioprinting. Extraction and classification of tissue types from 3D scans is discussed in addition to modeling and simulation capabilities of scanned systems. After that, the necessary area of transferring the 3D model to the printer is explored. The chapter closes with a discussion of the current state-of-the-art and inherent challenges facing the research domain to achieve 3D tissue and organ printing