Producing a three-dimensional model of an implant

Abstract

Determining a shape of a medical device to be implanted into a subject produces an image including a defective portion and a non-defective portion of a surface of a tissue of interest included in the subject. The tissue of interest is segmented within the image. A template, representing a normative shape of an external anatomical surface of the tissue of interest, is superimposed to span the defective portion. An external shape of an implant, is determined as a function of respective shapes of the defective portion as seen in the template, for repairing the defective portion.

1 . A computer implemented method for determining a shape of a medical device, the method comprising:
 creating a computer-based three-dimensional representation of a target tissue from x-ray image data of the target tissue wherein the target tissue comprises a portion with a defect and a portion without a defect;   identifying one or more locations on or within the computer-based three-dimensional representation of the target tissue;   fitting onto the computer-based three-dimensional   
       representation of the target tissue a computer-based three-dimensional template to span the defective portion;
 altering the shape of the computer-based three-dimensional template using the identified one or more locations to determine the shape of the medical device. 
 
     
     
         2 . The method as set forth in  claim 1 , wherein the x-ray image data comprises a plurality of image slices of the target tissue. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the medical device is an implant to be implanted in a subject. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising generating the x-ray image data of the target tissue. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 4 , further comprising fabricating the the medical device at least partially based on the shape. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising fabricating the medical device at least partially based on the shape. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein deforming the three-dimensional template to match the identified one or more locations to determine the shape of the medical device comprises determining the shape of the medical device at least partially based on the deformed template that spans the defective portion. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more locations are on an external surface of the non-defective portion of the computer-based three-dimensional representation of the target tissue.