Patient-specific 3D modelling of heart and cardiac structures workflow: an overview of methodologies

Cardiovascular diagnosis, surgical planning and intervention are among the most interested in recent developments in the field of 3D acquisition, modelling and rapid prototyping techniques. In case of complex heart disease, to provide an accurate planning of the intervention and to support surgical planning and intervention, an increasing number of Hospitals make use of physical 3D models of the cardiac structure, including heart, obtained using additive manufacturing starting from the 3D model retrieved with medical imagery. The present work aims in providing an overview on most recent approaches and methodologies for creating physical prototypes of patient-specific heart and cardiac structures, with particular reference to most critical phases such as segmentation and aspects concerning converting digital models into physical replicas through rapid prototyping techniques. First, recent techniques for image enhancement to highlight anatomical structures of interest are presented together with the current state of the art of semi-automatic image segmentation. Then, most suitable techniques for prototyping the retrieved 3D model are investigated so as to draft some hints for creating prototypes useful for planning the medical intervention.