Biomechanical modeling of the cervical spine on the basis of tomographic data

Navigation systems have been successfully established in spine surgery over the past years. Although there is rather good intraoperative support, preoperative planning still lacks a technologically mature software basis. In particular, the computation of the effect of intervention would be of great importance to the surgeon, which would allow him to choose the right strategy. For the patient, this would result in reduced trauma and optimized postoperative mobility. For a correct simulation of the behavior of the cervical spine, a patient individual finite element model is needed which would precisely reflect the geometrical and biomechanical properties of the spine. Therefore, a modeling process starting from tomographic data and ending in an applicable finite element model must be elaborated. A possible solution will be presented in this paper.