Structural parameters

The development of the bioengineering field has yield to the apparition of a new application of the Computer-Aided-Design, Bio-CAD, aiming to the use of computer models to represent biological samples and methods to simulate biological processes. In-silico experimentation is a related term referring to experimentation performed also on computer models. One of the in-silico experimentation challenges is to substitute some of the traditional in-vivo and in-vitro experiments. Samples can be of very diverse kinds as human and animal specimens as bone, brain, etc, synthetic samples as biomaterials and scaffolds and geological samples as sedimentary rocks, concrete, etc. The methodology involved in the in silice study of these samples is the same. A non-invasive acquisition method (as CT or MR) is applied to obtain a 3D image. Then a voxel model is reconstructed and segmented in order to differentiate the two regions in the sample. This model is then used to analyze and visualize the desired structural parameters. Structural parameters allow to measure sample properties as osteoporosis degree of bones, suitability of biomaterials to be used as implants and transport and distribution of fluids into rocks for petrographic purposes among others.