An integrated environment for plastic surgery support: building virtual patients, simulating interventions, and supporting intraoperative decisions.

In the last decade a number of environments for Computer Supported Plastic Surgery have been presented. Nevertheless, an overall approach for training and intraoperative support is still missing or has not been widely exploited yet. We developed a fully integrated system which allows surgical simulation, planning, and support for computer-guided plastic surgery procedures starting from image acquisition to final intraoperative assistance. The system also provides the user with a radiological workstation able to analyse patient medical images and case studies, with advanced bidimensional and three dimensional image processing functionalities. We intend to demonstrate that such a platform can be built at an affordable cost. The radiological workstation is capable of supporting radiologists and surgeons in real patient case studies and the simulation workstation may be adopted by plastic surgeons in teaching and training of complex surgical planning. Moreover, results of simulation can be used in the operating room with a relatively high benefit in terms of improved accuracy, reduction of surgical risks, and decrease in training costs.