Medical Visualization: Egyptology in 3D

Help for the Living: A digital approach to facial reconstruction

MAAT3D is working with Toulouse III University to apply VGStudio Max 2.0’s rendering power to Phillipe Pomar’s medical specialty: reconstructive facial surgery and the design of prostheses that improve the appearance and functionality of patients.

“The purpose of our work is develop ways to design prostheses more effectively using digital techniques,” says Julien Arrué, a PhD student in dentistry who is also an imaging specialist and the third co-founder of MAAT3D. “The old way is to take an impression of the patient’s face with dental materials, make a wax mold of the impression, and finally produce a silicon prosthesis. The patient may have to make four visits to the hospital, and sit with these materials on his face for up to 15 minutes at a time. In the process the molds and the prosthesis may not retain their original shape. The result may not be a good fit.”

MAAT3D does a better job by starting with CT scan slices of the patient’s head and reconstructing the skull and soft tissues in VGStudio Max, which accepts large datasets in DICOM, JPEG, and a variety of other formats. They design a prosthesis over the VG model, create a mold, and use it to make a silicone prosthesis in a process that ensures a good fit. Elapsed time: an hour or less.

This isn’t a clinical procedure yet; MAAT3D is working with a number of patients while awaiting approvals from regulatory authorities. But the concept is full of promise.

In the meantime, the number of high-resolution medical scanners available at universities and hospitals keeps on growing, and so do the resolution and quality of their images. Scientists and physicians no longer need big-budget workstations to turn these images into powerful 3D visualizations; the affordable Mac platform has brought them within economic reach, and will undoubtedly make a significant contribution to research and health care.

As for the mysterious Champollion mummy, his museum debut as an animated, translucent presence from another age is bound to inform and fascinate his audience. That will happen when the renovated Champollion Museum reopens later in 2007 and visitors are greeted by MAAT3D’s dazzling animations.

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