Method to Reproduce Physical and Virtual Biomodel of a Sphenoid Sinus and Nasal Passage Structures with a Sphenoid Tumour

The article describes and presents the process of developing and constructing a virtual and physical three dimensional biomodel of the sphenoid sinus and nasal structures. A patient with a tumour located in the sphenoidal air sinus was identified for this study. Fine slice Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) were performed. These imaging data were then fused by correlating matching anatomical bony landmarks. The resultant fused image series were then used to elucidate the sinuses and the tumour using a drawing tablet. The results were then post-processed with image processing algorithms namely Segmentation and Marching Cube, to generate a three dimensional (3D) construct. This virtual biomodel was then subjected to water-tight and hole-closing algorithms to pre-form a solid structure which can be printed on a powder rapid-prototyping (RP) apparatus. The final physical biomodel was then assessed at a few structural landmarks as a means of a simple validation. The validation of this model has been published elsewhere and supports the feasibility of the methods outlined in this paper. Further validation and ongoing work to reproduce biomodels of patients with similar tumour are currently underway in order to further substantiate the method described here.