3D modelling technique could help improve face transplants

Researchers with the Reconstructive Transplant Program are said to have developed a fused 3D model that can be manipulated by surgeons to prepare for surgery.

Because face-transplantation surgery is medically complex, imaging plays a major role in selecting patients, planning donor and recipient surgery, and assessing postoperative motor and sensory function.

It is claimed that, by combining information from multiple imaging exams and creating a sophisticated 3D computer model, surgeons will be better able to assess the facial structure and contours, the underlying bone, muscles, nerves and vessels, as well as the full extent of the damage of a face-transplant candidate.

Using integrated information from different imaging exams of sample patients, including 3D computer tomography (CT), CT angiography, MRI and high-definition tractography, UPMC researchers developed a protocol for a 3D model that shows a patient’s head and neck anatomy.

According to a statement, this same type of modelling technology is often used in films to animate computer-generated characters with detailed 3D human features and facial expressions.