Tridimensional vectorial modeling of the upper limb from anatomical slices of the Korean visible human

Abstract

Introduction: The virtual dissection is a new and remarkable learning tool in anatomy. The authors present here a 3D reconstruction of the upper limb from the Visible Korean human slices. [1–4]

Materials and methods: The manual segmentation of 1640 anatomical slices was achieved with the SURFdriver® software producing an interactive 3D vectorial model of the left upper limb. Eighty seven anatomical structures were reconstructed as separate 3D objects i.e skin, 31 bones, 29 muscles, 7 tendons, 6 nerves, 5 arteries and 9 veins (ligaments and lymphatics were not reconstructed).

Results: They were gathered into a 3D vectorial model of the whole limb and exported in Acrobat^® 3Dpdf format, producing a true virtual dissection tool: 87 anatomical structures can be individually and interactively manipulated with a touch screen: you can swipe, scroll, zoom, rotate and navigate inside the model as well as remove layers of skin and muscle and take measurements. In addition, 3D labels with the name of each anatomical element are available.

Discussion and conclusions: This new computerized virtual dissection table is a simple and powerful learning tool for students. It is also the basis of future simulation tools for surgeon’s training.

Keywords:

• Three-dimensional anatomy
• Visible Korean woman
• Upper limb
• carpal canal
• virtual reality
• 3D reconstruction
• virtual dissection
• surgical simulation
• surgical training