Authors: N Schoch F Kißler M Stoll S Engelhardt R de Simone I Wolf R Bendl V Heuveline
Publish Date: 2016/04/12
Volume: 11, Issue: 6, Pages: 1051-1059
Abstract
Patientspecific biomechanical simulations of the behavior of soft tissue gain importance in current surgery assistance systems as they can provide surgeons with valuable ancillary information for diagnosis and therapy In this work we aim at supporting minimally invasive mitral valve reconstruction MVR surgery by providing scenario setups for FEMbased soft tissue simulations which simulate the behavior of the patientindividual mitral valve subject to natural forces during the cardiac cycle after an MVR However due to the complexity of these simulations and of their underlying mathematical models it is difficult for nonengineers to sufficiently understand and adequately interpret all relevant modeling and simulation aspects In particular it is challenging to set up such simulations in automated preprocessing workflows such that they are both patientspecific and still maximally comprehensive with respect to the modelIn this paper we address this issue and present a fully automated chain of preprocessing operators for setting up comprehensive patientspecific biomechanical models on the basis of patientindividual medical data These models are suitable for FEMbased MVR surgery simulation The preprocessing methods are integrated into the framework of the Medical Simulation Markup Language and allow for automated information processing in a datadriven pipelineWe constructed a workflow for holistic patientindividual information preprocessing for MVR surgery simulations In particular we show how simulation preprocessing can be both fully automated and still patientspecific when using a series of dedicated MVR data analytics operators The outcome of our operator chain is visualized in order to help the surgeon understand the model setupWith this work we expect to improve the usability of simulationbased MVR surgery assistance through allowing for fully automated patientspecific simulation setups Combined visualization of the biomechanical model setup and of the corresponding surgery simulation results fosters the understandability and transparency of our assistance environmentAll procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration its later amendments or comparable ethical standards
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