Image recognition and the reconstruction of cleft palate histological preparations: a new approach.

Serial coronal histological sections of cleft palate and normal 12 week fetal specimens are video scanned. The digitized data in a matrix of 10(8) data points are recorded and through computer manipulation three dimensional reconstructions are produced. These can be resectioned by computer in various planes to expose any given structure for study. This is the first application of such a technique to these problems.