Surface reconstructions from computerized tomographic scans for evaluation of malignant skull destruction.

The head and neck surgeon is dependent on radiographic technology to diagnose deformity, plan surgery, and evaluate operative results. The development of computerized tomographic scanning has facilitated osseous definition as well as allowed study of intracranial and extracranial soft tissue. Nonetheless, the computerized tomographic image slice format requires an educated interpreter and a fertile imagination for correlation with physical findings. We have created computer software that presents computerized tomographic data as surface images that resemble photographs of the patient or a specimen skull. The program runs on standard computerized tomographic scanners, requires no operator intervention, and is efficient in computation time and space. The surgeon can directly visualize the osseous deformity and mathematically relate it to the overlying soft tissue. The surface images can be viewed from a variety of perspectives, with or without selected structures, such as removing the body of the mandible in the pseudo-Water's projection to demonstrate the palate. The image data can be manipulated to obtain a variety of useful results beyond the images themselves. The addition of this technology to the preoperative evaluation and longitudinal follow-up of patients with head and neck cancer has increased our understanding of the extent of their malignancy.