Development of a Novel Computer-Aided Surgical Simulation (CASS) System for Orthognathic Surgery

A successful craniomaxillofacial (CMF) surgery depends not only on surgical techniques, but also on an accurate surgical plan. However, the traditional planning methods have proven problematic. Towards this end, we have designed a clinical protocol of using 3D Computer-Aided Surgical Simulation (CASS) method as a new planning method. A computerized composite skull model of a patient is generated to accurately represent the skeleton, the dentition and facial soft tissues. In addition, patient?s neutral head posture (NHP) is recorded and the composite skull model is transferred into NHP coordinate system. Furthermore, the virtual osteotomies can be performed to simulate an orthognathic surgery. The surgical splints and templates are generated in the computer, fabricated by a rapid prototyping machine, and used during surgery to precisely position the bony segments.

The ultimate goal of this project was to design, develop and implement a computer CASS software system that allows surgeons to plan an orthognathic surgery following our clinical protocol. The system includes six modules: Segmentation, Registration/NHP, Cephalometric Analysis, Virtual Osteotomy Surgical Simulation and Surgical Splint/Template. Microsoft Visual Studio 2008, VTK and ITK were used to develop our CASS system.