Integrating Automated Mesh Development into the NA-MIC Toolkit

描述（由申请人提供）：肌肉骨骼有限元（FE）分析是骨科相关研究的宝贵工具。虽然它提供了重要的生物力学见解，但与人体几何复杂结构建模相关的需求往往限制了它的实用性。处理医学图像数据集以识别感兴趣的不同解剖结构所需的时间进一步增加了通常令人望而却步的模型开发时间。然而，这个过程是模型开发的必要预处理步骤。因此，文献中报道的大多数分析都是指“平均”骨骼几何形状。我们研究计划的广泛目标是整合和扩展方法，以自动开发标本/患者特定的有限元（FE）模型到NA-MIC工具包中。为了实现这一目标，我们提出合并独特的技术来自动分割图像数据集；物质财产提取与转让；直接进行有限元模型开发（自动网格划分）。而直接物理扫描感兴趣的骨头将用于验证自动图像分割程序，实验尸体接触应力测量将提供一个标准，以验证有限元接触公式。此外，由我们的软件包生成的有限元模型将与通过商业预处理包创建的相同骨骼的模型进行比较。虽然上肢的骨骼/关节代表了本应用中提出的主要结构，但该工具将适用于许多骨科应用。除了将NA-MIC工具包扩展到大脑之外，拟议的项目还将扩展目前可用的图像分割例程和有限元网格例程。这一建议将最终产生上肢各种关节的标本特异性有限元模型。这些模型将使我们能够提供有关载荷转移、正常关节特征的信息，并在未来证明，例如，韧带不稳定、创伤后错位、骨折和各种外科手术的影响。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Musculoskeletal finite element (FE) analysis is an invaluable tool in orthopedic-related research. While it has provided significant biomechanical insight, the demands associated with modeling the geometrically complex structures of the human body often limit its utility. The often-prohibitive amount of model development time is further compounded by the time required to process medical image datasets to identify the distinct anatomical structures of interest. Yet this process is a necessary preprocessing step for model development. As a result, most of the analyses reported in the literature refer to 'average' bone geometry. The broad objective of our research plan is to integrate and expand methods to automate the development of specimen- / patient-specific finite element (FE) models into the NA-MIC toolkit. In pursuit of this objective we propose to merge unique technologies to automate image dataset segmentation; material property extraction and assignment; and direct FE model development (automated meshing). While direct physical scans of the bones of interest will be used to validate the automated image segmentation routines, experimental cadaveric contact stress measurements will provide a standard against which to validate the FE contact formulations. Furthermore, the FE models generated by our software package will be compared to models of the same bone(s) created via a commercial pre-processing package. While the bones/joints of the upper extremity represent the primary structures of interest proposed in this application, the tools will be applicable to many orthopedic applications. In addition to expanding the NA-MIC toolkit beyond the brain, the proposed project will expand the image segmentation routines and finite element meshing routines currently available. This proposal will ultimately yield specimen-specific FE models of the various joints of the upper extremity. Such models will position us to provide information about the load transfer, characteristics of the normal joints and in the future to demonstrate, for example, the effects of ligamentous instabilities, posttraumatic misalignments, fractures, and various surgical procedures.