COMPUTATIONAL INVERSE MECHANICS OF A HIGHLY COMMINUTED TIBIA FRACTURE

1 online resource (250 pages) : PDF

2014

University of North Carolina at Charlotte

This dissertation presents a new computational system that seeks to estimate the inverse mechanics of a bone fracture from 3D CT images. One image provides a model of an unbroken bone and a second records a fractured example of the same bone after an injury. For a bone fracture, these mechanics specify how the bone broke in terms of what object impacted the limb and how the bone fracture fragments moved over time due to that impact. To accomplish this task, novel image processing techniques are used in combination with existing computational dynamics simulation tools. Estimates of a fracture event are generated in three steps: (1) estimate a 3D model of the limb immediately before the fracture event occurred, (2) iteratively simulate the fracture dynamics to search for values of the unknown fracture variables that produce fracture patterns similar to that depicted in the observed image of the fractured limb, and (3) visualize and analyze likely fracture scenarios in a virtual 3D environment. This dissertation investigates the following two challenges: (1) obtaining a physically-meaningful estimate of the unbroken limb and (2) solving the difficult search problem for the unknown fracture event variables. Challenge one requires geometric surface models having unprecedented accuracy to be estimated for the fracture fragments which is a difficult unsolved problem. Challenge two requires conceptualizing and implementing a completely new system to estimate the fracture event. Results for the proposed methods are provided for clinical tibial plafond fracture data.

doctoral dissertations

Electrical engineering
Computer engineering
Biomedical engineering

Ph.D.

Fracture
Mechanics
Medical Imaging
Segmentation
Simulation
Watershed

Electrical Engineering

Willis, Andrew

Al-Shaer, Ehab
Howitt, Ivan
Weldon, Thomas

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2014.

This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). For additional information, see http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/.

Copyright is held by the author unless otherwise indicated.

Shadid_uncc_0694D_10690

http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.13093/etd:372