Three Dimensional Lower Extremity Musculoskeletal Geometry of the Visible Human Female and Male

Area of Science:

• Biomedical Engineering
• Anatomical Modeling
• Computational Biology

Background:

• Musculoskeletal modeling offers crucial insights into human biomechanics and function.
• Limited availability of comprehensive, sex-specific anatomical datasets hinders the development of advanced human models.
• Existing research often overlooks female-specific geometries, creating a data gap.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and share complete 3D musculoskeletal geometries from the Visible Human Male and Female datasets.
• To provide a foundation for high-fidelity, multi-scale human musculoskeletal simulations.
• To address the scarcity of publicly available, detailed anatomical data, particularly for females.

Main Methods:

• Digitization and extraction of musculoskeletal structures (muscle, bone, cartilage, ligament, fat) from the pelvis to the ankle.
• Utilizing cryosection data from the National Library of Medicine's Visible Human Project.
• Post-processing of geometries at multiple levels for versatile data reuse.

Main Results:

• Complete 3D musculoskeletal geometries of both male and female specimens are now publicly available.
• The dataset includes detailed anatomical structures from the pelvis to the ankle.
• Geometries are provided at multiple post-processing levels, enhancing data reusability.

Conclusions:

• The released datasets provide a significant resource for advancing human musculoskeletal simulation.
• This work facilitates a better understanding of normal human function and the evaluation of medical treatments.
• The inclusion of both male and female geometries promotes more inclusive and comprehensive biomechanical research.