A personalized breast prosthesis volume customization method based on preoperative MRI imaging for post-mastectomy...

Conventional breast prosthesis selection for mastectomy patients faces poor fitting accuracy, privacy exposure and complicated operation. In this preliminary feasibility study, we proposed and feasibility-verified a personalized volume customization method based on preoperative MRI and publicly available open-source tooling. A representative cohort of three breast MRI cases with distinct breast volumes and bilateral symmetry characteristics were analyzed with fully open-source 3D Slicer for segmentation, 3D reconstruction and voxel-based volumetric measurement, using the public Duke-Breast-Cancer-MRI dataset. Intra-method agreement between the voxel-based label mapping method and the closed surface fitting method was less than 0.5% across all cases, and the resulting per-breast mean volumes were 1228.15, 507.49, and 635.08 mL (bilateral totals 2456.30, 1014.97, and 1270.16 mL), spanning a wide spectrum from large to small breast sizes and thereby providing a diversified basis for validating the robustness of the proposed method across different anatomical types. Breast volume is known to vary widely across individuals and populations, so the three case volumes are reported here as descriptive findings rather than as validation against any external reference. Target volumes were determined according to unilateral and bilateral mastectomy scenarios. High-quality 3D models and accurate volume quantification were obtained successfully, and a mapping model linking individual volumetric parameters to commercial prosthesis sizes was constructed as a step toward clinical translation. This non-invasive method is privacy-friendly, posture-independent in terms of volume, and avoids postoperative physical exposure, thereby relieving psychological distress. The guiding "volume conservation with morphological assessment" principle adopted in this study informs personalized external breast prosthesis selection; its longer-term morphological-remodeling dimension (patient-specific prosthesis design) lies beyond this feasibility study and is reserved for future work, offering a reproducible, privacy-friendly methodological framework for prospective validation in larger cohorts.