Patent ID: 8033832

Claim:
A computer based method for providing measurements to be used during a surgical procedure, comprising: receiving, on a computer, a three-dimensional, surface scan image of at least a portion of a pre-operative subject's body, wherein the three-dimensional, surface scan image is of an exterior surface of the at least portion of a pre-operative subject's body; applying a predetermined measurement extraction profile to the pre-operative subject's surface scan image to extract at least some measurements from the pre-operative subject's surface scan image; determining, via a computer, using the measurement extraction profile, at least some measurements from the pre-operative subject's surface scan image; converting, via a computer, the subject's pre-operative surface scan image from the surface scan image format to a pre-operative model format to produce a pre-operative model, wherein the pre-operative model may be manipulated by a native three-dimensional data modeling language; applying a procedure-specific template to the pre-operative model; manipulating at least a portion of a surface of the subject's pre-operative model, by using stretching and shaping functions, based on the procedure-specific template, to produce a forecasted model; determining, via a computer, changes in volume and surface area measurements between the subject's pre-operative model and the forecasted model; recording at least some of the volume and surface area measurements and the determined volume and surface area measurements in a data archive for the subject; converting the forecasted model to a converted forecasted image, wherein the converted forecasted image is in an image format that a scanner software can interpret; displaying, via a computer, the forecasted image; applying the predetermined measurement extraction profile to the converted forecasted image; extracting at least some surface measurements from the converted forecasted image; comparing, via a computer, at least some of the measurements extracted from the converted forecasted image to corresponding measurements extracted from the pre-operative image to produce comparison measurements; recording at least some of the extracted surface measurements from the forecasted image and the comparison measurements in the data archive for the subject; and presenting, via a computer, the comparison measurements prior to the performance of the surgical procedure, wherein the comparison measurements show the amount of tissue to be added or removed.