Re: Medical Models

From: Ulrich Kliegis (Ulrich.Kliegis@kiel.netsurf.de)
Date: Thu Nov 28 1996 - 01:26:18 EET


> From: dla@depuy.com
> Date: Wed, 27 Nov 1996 11:13:01 -0500
> To: rp-ml@ltk.hut.fi
> Subject: Medical Models
> Cc: dla@depuy.com

> I am looking for very early publications and/or work involving the
> development of physical models of internal anatomical structures
> from Xray, CT, MRI or related data.

Being one of the pioneers I feel invited to comment a bit :)

Your question smells very much of the infamous White patent. IMHO, it
is invalid.

We did produced our first individual anatomical models based on CT
in 1984 / 1985. Different from the process performed at DePuy, our
system (ENDOPLAN) was fully automatic from the very beginning.

BUT:

There is a publication dating back to 1979 which outlines the
technique explicitly. Interestingly enough, that paper was first
published in a conference in Long Beach (in 1979). Pure coincidence
that a patent application on that same topic was filed by a
californian resident skilled in the art in 1981.

Contact me directly for details.

>
> How far back does this technology exist? Who were the pioneers?
> What related patents have been issued?

MEK had a european patent on some aspects of the surface
reconstruction. Although I was involved in that at that time, I don't
know what happened to the patent in the meantime. MEK went out of
business in 1993, a follow-up company which was an affiliation of
Carl Zeiss was dissolved in 1995, and I don't know what they made of
that patent. I can't judge how strong it was.

>
> There are several groups that are using CT and MRI to generate SLA
> models of bones, etc. Who were the first ones to complete the link
> between scanning/imaging/Xray and actually being able to pro- duce a
> model?
Cemax and MEK (see my home page). Cemax sold that part of the
business to BIOMET some years ago.

The Cemax - method was an indirect one. The milled negative molds and
filled that with acrylate. Looked very crude. See my homepage again
for an example of what out machine could do.

>
> I worked with Cornell University in the late 1980's as they attemp-
> ted to develop software that would (effectively) generate a CAD
> model from a CT scan. I have found this to be one of the most
> exciting technologies on the RP scene in a long time. Why has it
> been such a slow-starter in the United States?

Hmmmmm, well, keywords like Medicare, lack of support through major
orthopedic manufacturers, cost, cumbersome logistics, a long patent
war between Cemax and Depuy (ask your company :) :) !! ) that deterred
most people, come to mind. Cemax went through various hands, even Philips owned
some shares for some time.

At the Zeiss - time, I had managed to bring an ENDOPLAN system to the
front door of one of the top hospitals. We wanted to demonstrate the
usefulness and maximal cost effectiveness of using models in surgery planning,
like we do in Europe.

Unfortunately, it was decided that this system was taken back to an
Asian country and installed there. Sigh.

>
> Thanks in advance for the information.

Always happy to chat on that :) :)

You really should get in direct touch with me. I'll be out from
Nov.28 til Dec. 5, however. A meeting on model basaed surgery planning :)!
>
Ulli Kliegis
----------------------------------------------------------
Don't flame me, I'm only the keyboard player...

Ulrich.Kliegis@kiel.netsurf.de
http://kiel.netsurf.de/homes/Ulrich.Kliegis/Welcome.html
Business:
http://home.t-online.de/home/nordcom

Ulrich G. Kliegis Phone: +49 431 331144 Fax: +49 431 331146



This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.2 : Tue Jun 05 2001 - 22:37:46 EEST