Computer-assisted three-dimensional surgical planning and simulation: 3D soft tissue planning and prediction

The purpose of this paper is to report a new technique for three-dimensional facial soft-tissue-change prediction after simulated orthognathic surgical planning. A scheme for soft tissue deformation, "Computer-assisted three-dimensional virtual reality soft tissue planning and prediction for orthognathic surgery (CASP)", is presented. The surgical planning was based on three-dimensional reconstructed CT visualization. Soft tissue changes were predicted by two newly devised algorithms: Surface Normal-based Model Deformation Algorithm and Ray Projection-based Model Deformation Algorithm. A three-dimensional color facial texture-mapping technique was also used for generating the color photo-realistic facial model. As a final result, a predicted and simulated patient's color facial model can be visualized from arbitrary viewing points.