Plastination and computerized 3D reconstruction of the temporal bone.

The purpose of this study was to generate a computerized 3D reconstruction of the temporal bone and intratemporal structures. A plastination technique was used to obtain equidistant serial thin sections of 1.2 mm thickness and, on an SGI workstation, a Contour-Marching Cubes algorithm was selected to reconstruct the temporal bone and intratemporal structures in three dimensions. All reconstructed structures can be represented individually or jointly and rotated in any plane. Any diameter and angle of a structure can be conveniently measured. The capability of reconstructing individual and combined images of intratemporal structures, viewing them from all surgical angles, and accurately measuring their spatial relationships gives skull base and otologic surgeons important guidance. The reconstructed model can also be used for resident education, rehearsal of an unfamiliar surgery, and for developing a new surgical approach.