The Construction Of Computer-based Simulation Model For Cleft Lip Repair

The acquisition of surgical skills and proficiency is important in plastic surgery, particular in cleft lips repair. Careful plan before operation, experience and habit of doctor have very big influence on the quality of the surgery. Traditionally under the apprenticeship model, much of this learning has occurred in the operating room under the supervision of an attending surgeon which has obvious limitations. Because the outcomes of post-operation cannot be shown in advance, the communication between surgeons and parents is difficult. So a surgical simulator is urgent for surgeons to provide other different training methods without the risk to real patients. The creation of VR (virtual reality) technology has allowed this type of learning and training methods to occur.VR is a computer simulation of a real or imaginary system that enables a user to perform operations on the simulated system and shows the effects in real time. It helps surgeons to acquire clinical experience, test the feasibility of the surgery plan, which would reduce the risk patients used to take and training expense, and has extremely significant significance on the development of medicine educating and training model, also will accelerate the development of medicine level. The final goal is to build up a simulator which comprises both physiological function and biological function. But now the model only comprises the physical property of human tissues.In VR, the research on computer-based simulation model is the most important. A better model can make the simulation surgery more similar to real surgery. The research on construction of computer-based simulation model includes the segmentation of medical images, the acquirement of target district, the construction of geometry model and visualization model, interaction, the soft tissue physical property simulation, the algorithm optimization.The objective of this project was to develop a computer-based surgical simulation model for planning and performing cleft lip repair. A 3-month-old unilateral cleft lip, alveolus and plate patient was previously CT scanned. High-resolution 3D meshes of cleft lip were generated by VTK technology. The visualization model was integrated with mass spring model by Visual C++. Finally a computer-based simulation model for cleft lip repair was constructed. A precise, efficient and promising way to construct the model was developed: In the first part of this article, a simple and effective medical image segmentation software was developed by using the Visual C++ language and the threshold method. A standard input and output port was prepared in advance, which make the software more compatible and accurate. The data that is saved in the end of this part is important to the establishment of visualization model in next part.In the second part, a visualization model of cleft lip was established by using the VTK technology. The algorithm optimization was carried on by using the VTK succinct and highly effective coded program. The interaction function was realized in the bone tissue window.In the third part, a computer-based simulation model for cleft lip repair was constructed. The model was integrated with mass spring model by Visual C++ programming.A promising way to construct computer-based simulation model for cleft lip repair was created in this article. The VTK technology and the mass-spring model were used in the process of construction. A standard input and output port was prepared which allowed the simulation model to load more tissue layers. In the end of the article initial studies on VR of cleft lips were carried on based on this simulation model.