| Thomas Hierl, Jörg Hendricks, Alexander Hemprich, Gert Wollny, Guntram Berti, Jochen Fingberg, Jens Georg Schmidt: 3D-Analysis of Soft Tissue Changes following Maxillary Distraction Osteogenesis, in T. M Buzug, K.-M. Sigl, J. Bongartz, K. Prüfer (eds.), Facial Reconstruction. Proceedings of 2nd International Conference on Reconstruction of Soft Facial Parts, RSFP 2005, Remagen, pp. 499-518, Luchterhand Verlag (2007) |
| Maxillary distraction osteogenesis is a new procedure in the treatment of severe maxillary hypoplasia and retrusion. By now most investigations have focused on questions regarding the procedure, bony changes, and dental occlusion. Therefore an investigation was started to look after the concomitant soft tissue changes associated with large bony maxillary advancements. Methods: 20 patients were analyzed, most of them suffering from cleft lip and palate. Pre- and posttreatment CT scans were compared using a novel tool chain based on rigid and non-rigid registration. This tool chain allows to extract data for individual anatomical landmarks and displays changes in a colour pattern. Furthermore soft tissue and bony changes could be compared. In addition to time-series analysis, a 3D cephalometric tool is integrated into the tool chain which permits pre- and post-operative comparison to control groups. To assess precision of the tool chain, cadaver studies were carried out. Results: Our novel tool chain permits an excellent overview over bony and soft tissue changes. Looking at the soft tissue after an average bony advancement of 8 mm in the malar prominence region, similar changes could be seen. Facial appearance was altered towards a harmonic relation. Cadaver studies showed that the tool chain works well within the limitations of the CT-data. |