Virtual Temporal Bone Anatomy

Background The Visible Human Project(VHP) initiated by the U.S. National Library of Medicine has drawn much attention and interests from around the world. The Visible Chinese Human(VCH) project has started in China. The current study aims at acquiring a feasible virtual methodology for reconstructing the temporal bone of the Chinese population, which may provide an accurate 3-D model of important temporal bone structures that can be used in teaching and patient care for medical scientists and clinicians. Methods A series of sectional images of the temporal bone were generated from section slices of a female cadaver head. On each sectional image, SOIs (structures of interest) were segmented by carefully defining their contours and filling their areas with certain gray scale values. The processed volume data were then inducted into the 3D Slicer software(developed by the Surgical Planning Lab at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the MIT AI Lab) for resegmentation and generation of a set of tagged images of the SOIs. 3D surface models of SOIs were then reconstructed from these images. Results The temporal bone and structures in the temporal bone, including the tympanic cavity, mastoid cells, sigmoid sinus and internal carotid artery, were successfully reconstructed. The orientation of and spatial relationship among these structures were easily visualized in the reconstructed surface models. Conclusion The 3D Slicer software can be used for 3- dimensional visualization of anatomic structures in the temporal bone, which will greatly facilitate the advance of knowledge and techniques critical for studying and treating disorders involving the temporal bone.