3D Modelling of Human Joints Using Reverse Engineering for Biomedical Applications

Computer-aided design (CAD) has been supporting engineers to design better products in a very short time frame. Nowadays, reverse engineering and rapid prototyping are available for enhancing the design capabilities of design engineers for reducing product lead time and making possible customized products. Customized products are very much in demand in biomedical applications as implants and products for operation planning. Real 3D models of organs help doctors to observe the physiological changes in the organs of patients for better implant design and operational planning 3D scanners. Computerized axial tomography (CAT) is used for collecting the data of the geometric shape of organs or human joints and developing 3D models. In this paper, efforts have been made to create a 3D geometric model of the knee joint and ankle joint using CT scan data of two patients. There were different challenges both joints in terms of soft tissues, ligaments, and removal of meshes. 3D slicer and Blender methodologies were adopted for creating 3D geometric models. 3D models were fabricated on fused deposition Modelling 3D printer using Polylactic material. It was observed that 3D slicer and Blender were capable of handling soft tissues of knee joints and removal meshes in ankle joints, respectively. 3D-printed models were close to joints of specific patients.