title: A simulation model for analysing brain structure deformations.
abstract: Recent developments of medical software applications--from the simulation to the planning of surgical operations--have revealed the need for modelling human tissues and organs, not only from a geometric point of view but also from a physical one, i.e. soft tissues, rigid body, viscoelasticity, etc. This has given rise to the term 'deformable objects', which refers to objects with a morphology, a physical and a mechanical behaviour of their own and that reflects their natural properties. In this paper, we propose a model, based upon physical laws, suitable for the realistic manipulation of geometric reconstructions of volumetric data taken from MR and CT scans. In particular, a physically based model of the brain is presented that is able to simulate the evolution of different nature pathological intra-cranial phenomena such as haemorrhages, neoplasm, haematoma, etc and to describe the consequences that are caused by their volume expansions and the influences they have on the anatomical and neuro-functional structures of the brain.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Information Science and Technologies, Italian National Research Council (ISTI CNR), Via G Moruzzi, 1-56124 Pisa, Italy. Sergio.Dibona@isti.cnr.it
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Di Bona
authors.forename: Ludovico
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lutzemberger
authors.forename: Ovidio
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Salvetti
mesh_terms: D001921:Brain / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004548:Elasticity; D006801:Humans; D007090:Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D007427:Intracranial Pressure; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D008954:Models, Biological; D009038:Motion; D013314:Stress, Mechanical; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D014783:Viscosity