3D reconstruction of a spinal motion segment from 2D medical images: objective quantification of the geometric accuracy of the FE mesh generation procedure

Abstract

The Finite Element (FE) Analysis is an essential tool to study the biomechanical behaviour of the spine, and particularly of the intervertebral disc (IVD). The 3D reconstruction of a patient-oriented IVD has numerous obstacles. Difficulties arise mainly due to the complexity and dimensions of the IVD’s constituent structures. The lack of detailed data in conventional imaging techniques causes further problems in the IVD finite element mesh generation and analysis. The accuracy of the FE computation increases if the geometry of model resembles, for instance, the natural smoothness of real anatomical structure. Accounting to this, the main idea of this work is to evaluate the impact of the reconstruction parameters by comparing the final 3D geometrical reconstruction by finite elements with an initial well-defined geometry of a given anatomical structure, and to develop the procedures for the 3D mesh generation from 2D medical imaging.