R_Bibb_Medical_Modelling_The_Application_of_Adv.pdf

108 Medical modelling
6.4 Whole three-dimensional reconstruction (left) and reduced to the
area of interest (right).
unwanted parts of the three-dimensional image, a new three-dimensional
image (Fig. 6.4 right) was created by the clinicians and emailed in the form
of a .3dd fi le to the RP provider so that the model constructed could be
much smaller and therefore very much cheaper.
6.1.6 Conclusions
The clinical benefi ts of medical modelling have been documented and
this work has demonstrated that a dedicated collaboration between the
RP service provider and medical staff can greatly improve speed, effi ciency
and quality of service. Evidently, careful planning is necessary before
embarking upon such collaborations. In particular, close co-operation
between the rapid prototyping service provider, the radiology depart -
ment, information technology departments, surgical teams and hospital
management is of the utmost importance. Although it is inevitable that
investment will be required, all of the long-term clinical and economic
benefi ts should be clearly indicated to fund managers. Besides the principal
goal of creating a medical modelling service, the setting up of convenient
data formats and electronic communications can be exploited in many
other ways. This can be seen in the number of hospitals embracing teleradiology,
which allows consultants to view medical images from remote
locations.
It should be anticipated that existing computer facilities might have
to be upgraded with particular attention paid to hardware specifi cation,