Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 5, 2026
Designing CAD/CAM Surgical Guides for Maxillary Reconstruction Using an In-house Approach
Published on: August 24, 2018
Inaccuracies in additive manufactured medical skull models caused by the DICOM to STL conversion process
Eero Huotilainen1, Risto Jaanimets2, Jiří Valášek3
1BIT Research Centre, Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, School of Science and Technology, Aalto University, P.O. Box 15500, FI-00076 Helsinki, Finland.
Introduction:
The process of fabricating physical medical skull models requires many steps, each of which is a potential source of geometric error. The aim of this study was to demonstrate inaccuracies and differences caused by DICOM to STL conversion in additively manufactured medical skull models.
Material And Methods:
Three different institutes were requested to perform an automatic reconstruction from an identical DICOM data set of a patients undergoing tumour surgery into an STL file format using their software of preference. The acquired digitized STL data sets were assessed and compared and subsequently used to fabricate physical medical skull models. The three fabricated skull models were then scanned, and differences in the model geometries were assessed using established CAD inspection software methods.
Results:
A large variation was noted in size and anatomical geometries of the three physical skull models fabricated from an identical (or "a single") DICOM data set.
Conclusions:
A medical skull model of the same individual can vary markedly depending on the DICOM to STL conversion software and the technical parameters used. Clinicians should be aware of this inaccuracy in certain applications.
