Systematic Parameterization, Storage, and Representation of Volumetric DICOM Data

Tomographic medical imaging systems produce hundreds to thousands of slices, enabling three-dimensional (3D) analysis. Radiologists process these images through various tools and techniques in order to generate 3D renderings for various applications, such as surgical planning, medical education, and volumetric measurements. To save and store these visualizations, current systems use snapshots or video exporting, which prevents further optimizations and requires the storage of significant additional data. The Grayscale Softcopy Presentation State extension of the Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine (DICOM) standard resolves this issue for two-dimensional (2D) data by introducing an extensive set of parameters, namely 2D Presentation States (2DPR), that describe how an image should be displayed. 2DPR allows storing these parameters instead of storing parameter applied images, which cause unnecessary duplication of the image data. Since there is currently no corresponding extension for 3D data, in this study, a DICOM-compliant object called 3D presentation states (3DPR) is proposed for the parameterization and storage of 3D medical volumes. To accomplish this, the 3D medical visualization process is divided into four tasks, namely pre-processing, segmentation, post-processing, and rendering. The important parameters of each task are determined. Special focus is given to the compression of segmented data, parameterization of the rendering process, and DICOM-compliant implementation of the 3DPR object. The use of 3DPR was tested in a radiology department on three clinical cases, which require multiple segmentations and visualizations during the workflow of radiologists. The results show that 3DPR can effectively simplify the workload of physicians by directly regenerating 3D renderings without repeating intermediate tasks, increase efficiency by preserving all user interactions, and provide efficient storage as well as transfer of visualized data. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s40846-015-0097-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Strength analysis of clavicle fracture fixation devices and fixation techniques using finite element analysis with musculoskeletal force input

In the cases, when clavicle fractures are treated with a fixation plate,opinions are divided about the best position of the plate, type of plateand type of screw units. Results from biomechanical studies of claviclefixation devices are contradictory, probably partly because ofsimplified and varying load cases used in different studies. The anatomyof the shoulder region is complex, which makes it difficult andexpensive to perform realistic experimental tests; hence, reliablesimulation is an important complement to experimental tests. In thisstudy, a method for finite element simulations of stresses in theclavicle plate and bone is used, in which muscle and ligament force dataare imported from a multibody musculoskeletal model. The stressdistribution in two different commercial plates, superior and anteriorplating position and fixation including using a lag screw in thefracture gap or not, was compared. Looking at the clavicle fixation froma mechanical point of view, the results indicate that it is a majorbenefit to use a lag screw to fixate the fracture. The anterior platingposition resulted in lower stresses in the plate, and the anatomicallyshaped plate is more stress resistant and stable than a regularreconstruction plate

Surface modification of additive manufactured Ti6Al4V alloy with Ag nanoparticles : Wettability and surface morphology study

In this work, the use of electrophoretic deposition to modify the surface of Ti6Al4V alloy fabricated via additive manufacturing technology is reported. Poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP)-stabilized silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) had a spherical shape with a diameter of the metallic core of 100±20 nm and ζ -potential -15 mV. The AgNPs- coated Ti6Al4V alloy was studied in respect with its chemical composition and surface morphology, water contact angle, hysteresis, and surface free energy. The results of SEM microphotography analysis showed that the AgNPs were homogeneously distributed over the surface. Hysteresis and water contact angle measurements revealed the effect of the deposited AgNPs layer, namely an increased water contact angle and decreased contact angle hysteresis. However, the average water contact angle was 125° for PVP-stabilized-AgNPs-coated surface, whereas ethylene glycol gave the average contact angle of 17°. A higher surface energy is observed for AgNPs-coated Ti6Al4V surface (70.17 mN/m) compared with the uncoated surface (49.07 mN/m).Conference Paper</p

Task analysis and comfort evaluation through simulations: Differences between subjective perceptions and simulated data in the case of car-hood lifting

The preventive evaluation of perceived (dis)comfort during the early stages of the design process is still an open issue. In Car development process, all tasks that involve human operations have to be taken into account while thinking and developing new solutions. Fortunately, modern technologies like CAE (Computer Aided Engineering) and DHM (Digital Human Modeling), and some new simulation software, like AnyBody⢠or Jack© by Siemens PLM, allow to investigate, through simulation, some of the aspects related to comfort perception in humans. In addition, the software named CaMAN®, developed at University of Salerno, allows the postural comfort evaluations of upper limbs. The questions to which this paper tries to give answers are: (1) Is it possible to correlate the simulated muscular activation with perceived (dis)comfort during a manual task? (2) How different are the subjective perceived (dis)comfort, rated by the Borg Scale and the (dis)comfort index calculated by software?

Additive manufacturing of titanium alloys in the biomedical field: processes, properties and applications

The mechanical properties and biocompatibility of titanium alloy medical devices and implants produced by additive manufacturing (AM) technologies - in particular, selective laser melting (SLM), electron beam melting (EBM) and laser metal deposition (LMD) - have been investigated by several researchers demonstrating how these innovative processes are able to fulfil medical requirements for clinical applications. This work reviews the advantages given by these technologies, which include the possibility to create porous complex structures to improve osseointegration and mechanical properties (best match with the modulus of elasticity of local bone), to lower processing costs, to produce custom-made implants according to the data for the patient acquired via computed tomography and to reduce waste