Quantitative assessment of virtual planning accuracy

Virtual surgical planning is the first step in computer-assisted surgery in complex craniomaxillofacial trauma. The virtual surgical planning is generated on computed tomography data of the patient that is acquired upon arrival or before surgery; the objective in the virtual surgical planning is to simulate the pretrauma anatomy as closely as possible. Although the planning serves as the basis for intraoperative decision-making/feedback and postoperative evaluation, the quality of the virtual planning is usually not measurable, since pretrauma imaging data is seldom available.

Cadaver specimen are used for surgical training on craniomaxillofacial trauma. Trauma is induced in the specimen, so that participating surgeons can practice their surgical reconstruction skills on these specimen. Computed tomography data of these specimen is available before trauma, after trauma, and after reconstruction. The pretrauma and postrauma scan provide a unique opportunity to evaluate the accuracy of the virtual surgical planning to the actual pretrauma anatomy in an objective fashion. Different planning strategies may be compared, and the effect of novel technology on the virtual surgical planning quality can be quantified.

Quantify virtual surgical planning accuracy

A virtual surgical planning will be created on the post trauma scans of the cadaver specimen. After the virtual reconstruction has been completed, the pre trauma scan will be fused to the virtual surgical planning to visualize the difference between simulation and actual anatomy before trauma. Distance and orientation (rotation) parameters will be used to quantify these differences.

Virtual surgical planning

None, the subjects have passed away and donated their remains to science. The fractures have been created in light of surgical training for craniomaxillofacial trauma.