Producing a three dimensional model of an implant
Determining a shape of a medical device to be implanted into a subject produces an image including a defective portion and a non-defective portion of a surface of a tissue of interest included in the subject. The tissue of interest is segmented within the image. A template, representing a normative shape of an external anatomical surface of the tissue of interest, is superimposed to span the defective portion. An external shape of an implant, is determined as a function of respective shapes of the defective portion as seen in the template, for repairing the defective portion.
1. A computer implemented method of obtaining data for determining a 3-dimensional shape of a medical device, the method comprising:
(a) obtaining computer readable image data of a target tissue wherein the target tissue comprises two portions, a portion with a defect and a portion without a defect;
(b) rendering from the image data a computer-generated 3-dimensional representation of the target tissue;
(c) superimposing a three-dimensional template onto the 3-dimensional representation, wherein the three-dimensional template represents a normative shape of an anatomical surface of the target tissue; and
(d) deforming the three-dimensional template to the computer-generated 3-dimensional representation to determine the 3-dimensional shape of the medical device.
2. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the 3-dimensional image data is obtained from image slices of the target tissue.
3. The method as set forth in claim 1 , wherein the 3-dimensional image data is obtained as one or more voxels of the target tissue.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the medical device is an implant to be implanted in a subject.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating the computer-readable image data of the target tissue.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising fabricating the 3-dimensional shape of the medical device.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising fabricating the 3-dimensional shape of the medical device.