International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887) Volume 119 – No.17, June 2015 1 Computerized 3D Modeling for Rapid Artificial Bone Substitute Manufacturing P.M.P.C. Gunathilake Department of Statistics and Computer Science, Faulty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka Y.P.R.D. Yapa Department of Statistics and Computer Science, Faulty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka A.J. Pinidiyaarachchi Department of Statistics and Computer Science, Faulty of Science, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka J.V. Wijayakulasooriya Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faulty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka R. Ranaweera Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Faulty of Engineering, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka ABSTRACT Rapid bone substitutes manufacturing is highly important due to a vast number casualties are stepped to the society as a result of mainly traffic accidents, natural disasters and civil wars. Though casualties are grouped into several categories, a considerable number of patients is fallen into the bone associated injuries. It is also notable that especially the traffic related accidents and natural disasters may occur in populated regions. Due to financial reasons all the hospitals in the developing countries cannot maintain sophisticated scanning equipments along with their software solutions. Therefore having a lightweight software solution that facilitates bone profiling will be beneficial for patients and it also helps surgeons to prepare a care plan depending on the disorder. However, the artificial tools that are inserted to the human body can vary upon the injury. Hence, they should be highly customizable. Though computerized 3D modeling started around two decades ago, a few tools are available to assist surgeons in such situations. The available applications and techniques have limited functionalities thus, the manufactured bone grafts may not perfectly be suited to the lesion or injury. In this paper we propose a minimally invasive procedures to model bone grafts. In which, quality control methods for noise removals and 3D data compression mechanisms are coupled to the software solution that runs even on typical personal computer systems. The end result of the 3D modeled bone can be employed to extract the cavity, clip regions of interest and even to test the manufactured bone graft before the surgical procedure. Thereby, the process of manufacturing the prosthetic and the clinical procedures will be efficient and reliable. General Terms 3D modeling, bone graft Keywords Bone graft, artificial bone substitute, bone measurement 1. INTRODUCTION Medical Image Processing is used to construct the features of the images obtained through various modalities such as Computed Tomography (CT), X-ray, Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and Ultra Sound which are not obvious and profound. The set of images obtained from these modalities are used for clinical purposes to diagnose pathological conditions. Each of these techniques has unique properties; for example CT scan may use to diagnose bone related disorders and injuries. This produces a stack of two dimensional images that are not effective for extensive clinical examinations as they are individual image slices. Therefore, it is necessary to integrate these image slices to establish a complete treatment plan. The images acquired using CT modalities are the best suited to produce bone grafts as they highlight bone tumors and fractures. A plane radiograph represents the additive effect of all the tissues and bones of the organ being radiographed. The CT images are obtained using a wide X-ray beam, which is as wide as human body. The height of the beam is small such that the image reconstructed in one resolution represents a small slice of the area of the interest. In order to cover a whole bone or an organ, a stack of images are obtained. This stack of images provide good description of the bone compared to the conventional radiographic image. Manufacturing bone grafts using a discreet set of 2D image slices acquired using CT is challenging due to its incompleteness. Further, these manufactured bone grafts must adhere to the standards such as biocompatibility and strength sustainability. Hence, the 3D visualization of medical images has been indispensable in the present radiological procedures. Bone grafting is one of the main focuses in medical image processing which also enables realistic visualization and eases off the designing and manufacturing process. Furthermore, the swift designing and testing process shortens the patient's waiting period for the treatment. The Computer Aided Designing and Computer Aided Manufacturing software systems may be utilized to design and manufacture the bone grafts. Moreover, there are commercial and non-commercial applications to process medical images which may be specific to the needs of the particular medical imaging equipment. Therefore, these software have limited usage in designing and manufacturing of bone grafts. Further, these software solutions may need high computational power. Hence, the intention of this research is to develop a method to reconstruct a complete three dimensional profile of the bone, and thereby facilitate the fabrication and manufacturing of bone grafts. These bone grafts may then tested for mechanical properties such as strength and life span and to reduce post- surgery complications. The manufacturers of bone grafts use prototype molds in fabrication. This pre-fabricated graft may