A Photographic Method For The Tridimensional Reconstruction Of The Human Thorax

A method is presented for easy spatial reconstruction of the complete human thorax. Eight cameras are used to photograph the subject simultaneously. Position and orientation of the cameras is not critical and no alignment tool is needed as the use of a reference frame allows easy computerized determination of these parameters a posteriori. The eight photographs are digitized. Processing of the digitized data by computer results in the determination of the spatial coordinates of any arbitrary point on the thorax (such as characteristic bodymarks, electrodes, etc...). After axistransformation and representation in cylindrical coordinates, smoothing of these coordinates is realized with a special computer program using bicubic B-spline functions. Mathematical constraints for this program are provided by a set of anthropometrical measurements. In this way the complete thorax is reconstructed and an analytical function of the thorax surface is obtained. The model of the thorax, obtained with this cinematographical technique is validated by the results of axial tomography.