An Interactive Planning And Simulation Tool For Maxillo-Facial Surgery

We present a chain of software tools designed to help to plan and predict the outcome of distraction osteogenesis operations in maxillo-facial surgery. The chain starts off with a CT image of the patient ' s head, which is segmented and used to produce a surface mesh of the skull. Next, the surgeon interactively defines the cuts and the parameters of the distraction process. This information together with the CT data are used to generate a finite element (FE) mesh, including boundary conditions, prescribed displacements or forces. After the FE problem is solved on a remote high-performance compute server using linear or non-linear solution methods, the resulting displacements of bones and soft tissue can be visualized in various ways in order to assist the surgeon in designing the appropriate surgery operation. The entire tool chain is developed as a Grid application with the overall aim of making advanced simulation accessible to the non-technical clinician, providing transparent and secure access to remote computing facilities via a novel layer of middleware.