3D Norm Data: The First Step towards Semiautomatic Virtual Craniofacial Surgery

Abstract

When planning craniofacial surgical interventions, the ideal appearance of the patient is very important. The final appearance should be as close as possible to that which the patient would have if he/she were without defects. Our first step towards achieving this is to build a database containing sets of three-dimensional CT images that allows for comparison of the shape of a patient with defects to the typical shape of an age- and sex-matched "average" person without defects. We started to collect CT data from patients without pathologies and, in co-operation with two radiology institutes (in Mannheim and Heidelberg), over 100 CT data sets have now been collected and classified according to age and sex. It is necessary to choose an appropriate statistical method to calculate the norm data from the different data sets. Based on the statistical method, an age- and sex-matched "average" model of the anatomy will be created.

Midfacial growth patterns in males from newborn to 5 years old based on computed tomography

“…Conversely, numerous studies have aimed to create normative values for craniofacial measurements to be used in medical practice (Brief et al, ; Delye et al, ; Dowgiallo, ; Escaravage & Dutton ; Hahn, Chu, & Cheung, ; Honn & Goz, ; Likus, Bajor, Gruszczyńska, Baron, & Markowski, ; Pool, Didier, Bardo, Selden, & Kuang, ; Stepanenko, ; Waitzman et al, ; including numerous X‐ray cephalometric studies, e.g., Broadbent, Broadbend, & Golden, ; Riolo et al, 1974; see also Hunter et al, ; Palomo & Broadbent, ). But despite this effort, growth trends of different regions of the facial skeleton in infancy and early childhood are still relatively poorly known.…”

“…Studies based on autopsy material are rare and mostly dated (Fazekas & Kosa, ; Lang, ; Young, ), and some of them are poorly known to researchers worldwide (Dovgiallo, 1937; Sysak, ).The development of high resolution CT scanning appears to be a very promising solution for understanding craniofacial ontogeny of infants and small children, and for defining normative values for different cranial measurements. The need for such data is appreciated by many authors (Brief et al, ; Delye et al, ; Escaravage & Dutton ; Hahn et al, ; Honn & Goz, ; Licus et al, 2014; Marcus et al, ; Pool et al, ; Stepanenko, ) and emphasized by the fact that the earliest works using CT data are still highly influential in different fields (Waitzman, ). But up to now, clinical CT data have been insufficiently used for describing craniofacial growth trends in infancy and early childhood.…”

Sexual dimorphism in human midfacial growth patterns from newborn to 5 years old based on computed tomography

“…From a theoretical point of view, the first months and years of life are the time of the most rapid growth changes that produce the main inter‐ and intra‐population differences in craniofacial form (Bulygina et al, 2006; Evteev et al, 2018; Viðarsdottir, 1999). On the other hand, a substantial body of work has been dedicated to establishing normative values for craniofacial traits in infants who are essential for treatment planning and evaluation of results in medical practice (Bjork, 1964; Brief et al, 2000; Broadbent et al, 1975; Delye et al, 2015; Enlow, 1975; Escaravage & Dutton, 2013; Lang, 1989; Likus et al, 2014; Pool et al, 2016; Waitzman et al, 1992b). Last but not least, knowledge of the early ontogeny of craniofacial SD is important for biological and forensic anthropology with respect to the problem of sexing non‐adult individuals (see Schaefer et al, 2009).…”

Coordinate Systems Integration for Craniofacial Database from Multimodal Devices

“…Appearance should be as close as possible to the aspect he/she would have without any defects. The step to achieve this is to build a database containing sets of "normal" craniofacial data which allows for a comparison of the current shape of a patient with a typical "normal" shape which taking such factors as age and sex of the patient into consideration [2].…”