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Maxillofacial surgery simulation using a mass-spring model derived from continuum and the scaled displacement method
G San Vicente1, C Buchart, D Borro
1CEIT, TECNUN (University of Navarra), Manuel Lardizábal 15, 20018, San Sebastián, Spain. gsanvicente@ceit.es
Purpose:
Development of a maxillofacial surgery simulation software capable of predicting a patient's appearance after surgery.
Methods:
We have derived a new mass-spring model (MSM) equivalent to a linear finite element (FE) model for cubic elements. In addition, we propose the scaled displacement method as a new method to perform the simulation more realistically.
Results:
The average error of eight soft tissue landmarks measured between 0.37 and 2.01 mm except from a landmark that had an error of 4.44 mm; values close to those obtained with the linear FE method. On the other hand, the scaled displacement method allows avoiding punctual stress concentration and bending effects making a much more realistic simulation in the region of the bone cut.
Conclusions:
Good results have been achieved with our two proposed methods. In addition, the simple way in which MSM can be parallelized makes it an interesting alternative to FE method.
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