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    • Rights: The University of Waikato
    Published 29 July 2008 Referencing Hub media
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    Hayley Reynolds (Auckland Bioengineering Institute) describes how, using images from the Visible Human project, she has created a 3D computer model of the human skin and mapped the location of lymph nodes1 onto this.

    Transcript

    HAYLEY REYNOLDS
    My model consists of both skin mesh, so I have a 3D model of human skin, and then I also have a model of lymph nodes2

    The 3D model itself is built from what’s called ‘Visible Human’ images. The Visible Human project was carried out by the National Library of Medicine over in the States, and they wanted to have a database of human anatomy3. They took a male cadaver4 and sliced him up into 1 mm slices all the way down his body.

    The Visible Human images were 2D images on the computer that I have used to stack it in 3D computer space. And then from that I have gathered data5 of the skin surface of the whole man. What I did was I digitised the human skin, so I created data points around the surface of the human skin for a number of slices of the Visible Human, and then created a data cloud which was in 3D from which I have created my 3D model of the human skin.

    Since melanoma6 is most likely to spread to lymph nodes if it’s spread, I had to create a lymph node7 model as well, which I could map the lymphoscintigraphy data onto as well. So a human has roughly 600 to 1,000 lymph nodes in their body, so there is quite a lot. There are 43 different location of lymph nodes in the body that melanoma can spread to, so I had to create a model of each of those lymph node8 fields. So what I have done is I have used the Visible Human data again and I’ve located lymph nodes in most of those areas.

    1. lymph node: A group of small organs found throughout the body that form part of the lymphatic and immune systems. They filter the lymph to remove bacteria and toxins.
    2. node: 1. A knot-like mass of tissue. 2. A part of a stem that bears a leaf. 3. A connection in a computer network.
    3. anatomy: Structure of biological tissue.
    4. cadaver: A dead body, especially one used for dissection.
    5. data: The unprocessed information we analyse to gain knowledge.
    6. melanoma: A cancer of a particular type of skin cell, called a melanocyte. Melanocytes are responsible for skin colour. The cancer usually appears on the skin, but may affect the eye and membranes (for example, the lining of the nose, the meninges of the brain or the lining of the anus).
    7. lymph node: A group of small organs found throughout the body that form part of the lymphatic and immune systems. They filter the lymph to remove bacteria and toxins.
    8. node: 1. A knot-like mass of tissue. 2. A part of a stem that bears a leaf. 3. A connection in a computer network.

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    ARTICLE

    Melanoma spread pattern model

    Hayley Reynolds, from the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, is developing a computerised 3D model of the body that will help doctors predict where a patient’s cancerous melanoma cells are more ...

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      lymph node

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      2. A group of small organs found throughout the body that form part of the lymphatic and immune systems. They filter the lymph to remove bacteria and toxins.

      cadaver

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      3. A dead body, especially one used for dissection.

      node

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      4. 1. A knot-like mass of tissue.

      2. A part of a stem that bears a leaf.

      3. A connection in a computer network.

      data

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      5. The unprocessed information we analyse to gain knowledge.

      anatomy

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      6. Structure of biological tissue.

      melanoma

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      7. A cancer of a particular type of skin cell, called a melanocyte. Melanocytes are responsible for skin colour. The cancer usually appears on the skin, but may affect the eye and membranes (for example, the lining of the nose, the meninges of the brain or the lining of the anus).

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