Right Fractured Lateral Tibial Condyle

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WorkFlowHospital supplied CT scan data in DICOM format was converted to STL mesh using open source software Invesalius v3.0b1 - www.cti.gov.br/invesalius/. The STL mesh generated by Invesalius was of very poor quality, as you can clearly see from the reference mesh object. I suspect this is due to the algorithm used to convert DICOM data into mesh data, which relies on converting relative image intensity, i.e., bone density, into manifoldness of mesh. Instead of repairing the generated mesh, I used it as a reference mesh in MeshMixer. The pull tool was the most efficient way to deform a spherical primitive STL to the reference STL. Three other DICOM -> STL conversion tools - ImageJ, Slicer, and InVesalius v3.0b3 - crashed while trying to generate the mesh. Only Invesalius 3.0b1 produced usable output. Printing: First Printed on November 17, 2012. Sliced with Slic3r 0.9.5 at a layer height of 0.2mm, single wall and 15% infill. Print time was 3 hours at 40 mm/s (slow speed). Total project time - A week of finding, experimenting, and learning new tools; 4 to 6 hours 'actual' productivity after discovering the pull tool in MeshMixer. Acknowledgments: Many thanks to Prof. Seth Horowitz for his article "3D Printing For CT Scan Analysis, Space Education" at www.makezine.com/2012/05/01/3d-printing-improves-ct-scan-analysis-space-education/. A big thank you to my surgeon and nursing staff at LKH Innsbruck, Austria for the excellent repair job; I am forever grateful that I can still walk and cycle.