Biomodels reconstruction based on 2D medical images

Over the last few years, the combination of medical image processing and rapid prototyping technologies lead to the birth of Medical Rapid Prototyping (MRP), a technology that has been applied to construct physical models of a patient's anatomy from high resolution imaging data, such as Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). These models, sometimes referred to as biomodels, are three dimensional (3D) sections of an individual patient such as the bone structure, soft tissue, vascular structures, foreign bodies and implants, and can be used in two major applications, namely, the visualization of invisible structures and surgical training. In this work, a general methodology for reconstruction of biomodels is presented and discussed. This approach is based on the 2D medical images such as CT and MRI. An elementary example is also presented in order to show how the process works, as well as discuss their main advantages and limitations.