title: An accurate, fast and robust method to generate patient-specific cubic Hermite meshes.
abstract: In-silico continuum simulations of organ and tissue scale physiology often require a discretisation or mesh of the solution domain. Cubic Hermite meshes provide a smooth representation of anatomy that is well-suited for simulating large deformation mechanics. Models of organ mechanics and deformation have demonstrated significant potential for clinical application. However, the production of a personalised mesh from patient's anatomy using medical images remains a major bottleneck in simulation workflows. To address this issue, we have developed an accurate, fast and automatic method for deriving patient-specific cubic Hermite meshes. The proposed solution customises a predefined template with a fast binary image registration step and a novel cubic Hermite mesh warping constructed using a variational technique. Image registration is used to retrieve the mapping field between the template mesh and the patient images. The variational warping technique then finds a smooth and accurate projection of this field into the basis functions of the mesh. Applying this methodology, cubic Hermite meshes are fitted to the binary description of shape with sub-voxel accuracy and within a few minutes, which is a significant advance over the existing state of the art methods. To demonstrate its clinical utility, a generic cubic Hermite heart biventricular model is personalised to the anatomy of four patients, and the resulting mechanical stability of these customised meshes is successfully demonstrated.
authors.affiliation: University of Oxford, Computing Laboratory, Wolfson Building, Parks Road, OX1 3QD Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Pablo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lamata
authors.forename: Steven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Niederer
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nordsletten
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Barber
authors.forename: Ishani
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Roy
authors.forename: D Rod
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Hose
authors.forename: Nic
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Smith
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods*; D003198:Computer Simulation; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional