Facial Modeling for Plastic Surgery Using Magnetic Resonance Imagery and 3D Surface Data

ABSTRACT We describe a novel facial modeling,and real-time pre-surgery planning + visualization tool for surgical and esthetic plastic surgery. The modeling pipeline accepts geometry,both in the form of Magnetic Resonance Imagery (MRI) and/or 3D facial surface scans. The MRI data is first used to segment the skin surface as well as the underlying tissues of interest. Textures taken with a digit al camera are mapped on the 3D model for display purposes. The facial scanner, when available, provides an alternate means for doctors to obtain high quality 3D skin information and texture at the same time. Multiple facial expressions can be recorded to study tissue deformation. Our solution allows for using the two types of sensors separately or in conjunction with one another. The resulting models and additional information, such as the animated MRI slides, provide doctors with better means of surgical planning. Currently, we are further developing the system to integrate finite element calculations (FEM) that help better planning and understanding of the possible outcomes,of a surgery and thereby reduce the risk for any given patient. The presentation reviews the methodologies, algorithms and tools in the context of a real-life application. Keywords: digital human, virtual plastic surgery, real-time visualization, 3D rendering, MRI, 3D scanning, cyber