title: Program for generation of three-dimensional finite element mesh from magnetic resonance imaging scans of human limbs.
abstract: A PC-AT based program for conversion of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans into coordinate input for finite element mesh generation is presented. The program is written in Borland C+ +3.1 and is compatible with every general-use personal computer, permitting the use of MS-DOS 3.0 or higher with a Microsoft mouse. The program is menu driven and does not demand specialised knowledge from the user. The system and memory requirements are minimal--640 kB RAM--and it runs as a stand-alone program. A second program allows the construction of a three-dimensional representation of the limb sub-structure and generation of the FE mesh from the converted cross-sectional scans. The capabilities of the program are demonstrated using cross-sectional scans of the upper arm; the fat, muscle and bone contours were obtained to a very high level of precision (0.4 mm).
authors.affiliation: Manchester Metropolitan University, Biomechanics Research Group, Alsager, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Aritan
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Dabnichki
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bartlett
mesh_terms: D001132:Arm / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D012984:Software