Dan Anderson:
You asked about:
"early publications and/or work involving the
development of physical models of internal anatomical structures
from Xray, CT, MRI or related data. How far back does this technology exist?
Who were the pioneers? What related patents have been issued?"
Since you're interested in "internal structures" and since the data obtained
from the scanning methods you mention doesn't always neatly correspond to
defined physical structures such as one usually "models" with shape, you may
be interested in a display concept I included in my NCGA '91 paper
"Three-Dimensional Printing." (National Computer Graphics Assoc., p.820).
Specifically, a "book model," is constructed from layers of sheet material
(absorbent paper, translucent plastic) each "page" of which is printed with a
colored scanning image, then cut to the shape of the outermost structure of
interest and "bound" by lamination (at one side of the image area). Due to
"indirect color" at the edges of each sheet, both the exterior and the
interior of the "book" would be colored and shaped in accordance with the
scanning data. One could "thumb through" the data - perhaps comparing
adjacent sheets, which could alternately depict images from different sources
(CAT, MRI, PET - perhaps superimposed with other printed information, such as
proposed radiation treatment dosage, etc., and printed at the proper "Z").
Both "indirect coloration" and "cut-on-the-stack" lamination are the subject
of my 5,015,312 (applied for 1987). Current status includes a prototype
"black-ink-only" machine which produces simple laminated models (not of the
"book" type). No commercial product for sale. The expectation is that this
work will lead to full color models which would assemble 2D scanning data in
a way which is tangibly three-dimensional. Progress is slow (but steady) due
to IQ and funding limitations.
Norm Kinzie
Laminar Systems, Inc.
Nkin@aol.com
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