A 3-D mechanical model for the pelvic surgery

Authors present a new method for building a 3-D mechanical model of the pelvic cavity. This model makes use of the data both from medical imaging (MRI) to recover the anatomical sets of the patient and from experimental measurements of the mechanical behaviour of regarded soft tissues. The 3-D geometry of the organs is reconstructed from 3 sets of orthogonal MRI slices. Uniaxial tension tests are carried out on organic samples of tissues harvested in per-operative conditions or on cadavers. The final aim of this study is to deliver an efficient and customised help to the surgical decision.