Mevisto-Jaw: A Visualization-Based Maxillofacial Surgical Planning Tool

The following article introduces a maxillofacial surgical planning tool based on a general two- and three-dimensional image processing and visualization concept. By applying various rendering methods to computer tomography volume data (CT), it is possible to produce stereoscopic views of the patient. These reconstructed images enable the surgeon to carry out a computer-aided three-dimensional maxillofacial profile analysis and operation plan. The "Medical Visualization Tools" (MeVisTo) concept developed by our workgroup serves as the basis for this. Besides an easy-to-handle user interface for 3D tasks, speed and quality of the volume rendering process are of great importance for the visualization. With "Virtual Sphere Rendering" (VSR) a method is presented that, by means of pre-calculating views, enables a visualization of data in real-time with more than 25 images per second.