title: From Finite Element Meshes to Clouds of Points: A Review of Methods for Generation of Computational Biomechanics Models for Patient-Specific Applications.
abstract: It has been envisaged that advances in computing and engineering technologies could extend surgeons' ability to plan and carry out surgical interventions more accurately and with less trauma. The progress in this area depends crucially on the ability to create robustly and rapidly patient-specific biomechanical models. We focus on methods for generation of patient-specific computational grids used for solving partial differential equations governing the mechanics of the body organs. We review state-of-the-art in this area and provide suggestions for future research. To provide a complete picture of the field of patient-specific model generation, we also discuss methods for identifying and assigning patient-specific material properties of tissues and boundary conditions.
authors.affiliation: Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, The University of Western Australia, Crawley-Perth, Western Australia, Australia. adam.wittek@uwa.edu.au.
authors.forename: Adam
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wittek
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.|Department of Orthopaedics and Rehabilitation, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.|Center for Computer Aided Design, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Grosland
authors.affiliation: Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, The University of Western Australia, Crawley-Perth, Western Australia, Australia.
authors.forename: Grand Roman
authors.initials: GR
authors.lastname: Joldes
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Magnotta
authors.affiliation: Intelligent Systems for Medicine Laboratory, The University of Western Australia, Crawley-Perth, Western Australia, Australia.|Institute of Mechanics and Advanced Materials, Cardiff School of Engineering, Cardiff University, Wales, UK.
authors.forename: Karol
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Miller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D019295:Computational Biology; D020342:Finite Element Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological
keywords: Biomechanics for medicine; Finite element method; Material properties; Mesh generation; Meshless methods; Patient-specific model; Soft tissues