ACRO 4D : universal analysis for four-dimensional diagnosis, 3D planning and simulation in orthognathic surgery

Olszewski, Raphaël [UCL] Nicolas, Vincent [UCL] Macq, Benoît [UCL] Reychler, Hervé [UCL]

This new analysis permits to study different craniomaxillofacial malformations and facial asymmetry. The visualization of ACRO 4D analysis is done in 3D, understanding the results must be done in 4D (3D and time), which associates the Moss neural matrix theory and the Delaire ideal individual equilibrium concept. The ACRO 4D analysis contains 38 landmark points and 28 plans. Angles (5), surfaces (10) and volumes (9) can be measured. The ACRO 4D analysis has been decomposed in 16 modules and 6 standard planing procedures have been implemented by combining these modules. Ten of these modules represent the 2D to 3D transformations from 2D Delaire analysis. Six modules study the symmetry – asymmetry of the different craniofacial regions. The ACRO 4D analysis guides the surgeon, step by step, to the diagnosis, with clear guidelines and 3D incorporated examples. The generic tools, developed in this software, can achieve the transformation of every 2D to 3D cephalometric analysis with the creation of the independent landmark points, lines, plans and volumes. Our further investigations are the validation of the method accuracy, the clinical validation on patients and development of 3D orthognathic surgery simulation based on this ACRO 4D analysis.