3D Soft Tissue Predictions with a Tetrahedral Mass Tensor Model for a Maxillofacial Planning System: a Quantitative Validation Study

摘要

In this paper we present an extensive quantitative validation on 3D facial soft tissue simulation for maxillofacial surgery planning. The study group contained 10 patients. In previous work we presented a new Mass Tensor Model to simulate the new facial appearance after maxillofacial surgery in a fast way. 10 patients were pre-operatively CT-scanned and the surgical intervention was planned. 4 months after surgery, a post-operative control CT was acquired. In this study, the simulated facial outlook is compared with post-operative image data. After defining corresponding points between the predicted and actual post-operative facial skin surface, using a variant of the non-rigid TPS-RPM algorithm, distances between these correspondences are quantified and visualized in 3D. As shown, the average median distance measures only 0.60 mm and the average 90% percentile stays below 1.5 mm. We can conclude that our model clearly provides an accurate prediction of the real post-operative outcome and is therefore suitable for use in clinical practice.