In this paper we present an extensive quantitative validation on 3D facial soft tissue simulation for maxillofacial surgery planning. The study group contained 10 patients. In previous work we presented a new Mass Tensor Model to simulate the new facial appearance after maxillofacial surgery in a fast way. 10 patients were preoperatively CT-scanned and the surgical intervention was planned. 4 months after surgery, a post-operative control CT was acquired. In this study, the simulated facial outlook is compared with post-operative image data. After defining corresponding points between the predicted and actual post-operative facial skin surface, using a variant of the non-rigid TPS-RPM algorithm, distances between these correspondences are quantified and visualized in 3D. As shown, the average median distance measures only 0.60 mm and the average 90% percentile stays below 1.5 mm. We can conclude that our model clearly provides an accurate prediction of the real post-operative outcome and is therefore suitable for use in clinical practice.
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