NA-MIC Project Weeks
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Spinal musculoskeletal module for computing vertebral specific loading
Key Investigators
- Csaba Pinter (Ebatinca, S.L., Spain)
- Ron Alkalay (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, US)
- Dennis Anderson (Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, US)
- Vy Hong (Technical University Munich, Germany)
- Nils Rehtanz (Technical University Munich, Germany)
- Steve Pieper (Isomics, Inc., USA)
- Andras Lasso (Queen’s University, Canada?)
- Ron Kikinis (Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, USA)
Project Description
Musculoskeletal models of the spine allow insight into the complex loading states experienced by the human spine that cannot be measured in human subjects noninvasively. We have previously established models for such analyses OpenSim, an open-source modeling software, and developed machine-learning approaches for segmenting cancer patients’ spinal column and trunk musculature. However, establishing personalized models to represent individual human subjects is complex and time-consuming, requiring custom scripting for data computation, curation, and assembling of model parameters. In the previous project week, our group ported our model creation, analysis, and data management scripts to Python and has worked on computing spinal inter-segment centroid and vertebral segment orientation necessary for adapting our generic female and male model to the patient anatomy and the spatial kinematic relationships of the modeled spine (individual vertebral size, inter-discal space, spinal curvature). For project week 42, we propose integrating these tools within the extension framework to enable automation of the segmentation process and visualization of the spine and muscle segmentation outcome, a complete pipeline to allow computing the input file required to model creation in Open sim from this segmentation and visualizing the force and moment values results at each vertebral level in 3Dslicer based on the Open sim model analysis.
Having such an open-source model in 3d Slicer will significantly contribute to the scientific and clinical community for cancer patient research and to studying the effect of spinal loading on morbidity in elderly populations and surgical outcomes.
Objective
- Create an open-source Slicer module integrating our group’s a) Vertebrae and musculature DL segmentation models b) Python-based spinal musculoskeletal model preparation and management scripts for establishing patient-specific spinal model input files for analysis in the OpenSim environment.
- Automate model creation in Open Sim based on the model input file.
- Create tools for visualizing and presenting model results at the model skeleton and muscle structures for static simulations.
- Discuss extending objective 3 for visualizing dynamic simulations (gait, tasks)
Approach and Plan
TBD
Progress and Next Steps
- Describe specific steps you have actually done. TBD