General Overview

Several international scientific organizations and institutes, such as the World Health Organization (WHO) and the COST 281 have expressed the need for developing numerical models of the human body to enable studies of the interactions between radio-frequency electromagnetic waves and biological tissues. Several previous works have focused on developing models of adults and children heads, based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data. New usage habits of mobile phones (hand free kits, ...) and the introduction of new technologies based on electromagnetic fields (Wifi, ...) have raised the need to develop whole body numerical models, based on medical images. With the advent of both obstetrical and whole body imaging, models of the fetus and the pregnant woman and of the infant are now considered.

Three projects, FEMONUM (FEtus and MOther NUmerical Models), FETUS and ACTE aim at providing numerical models generated from a large database of imaging exams. The proposed models, evaluated by an obsterician and a group of pediatric radiologists, enable precise dosimetry studies on the complex, highly variable and evolving anatomy of the pregnant woman, as well as, the young child. The numerical models are made available to the scientific community, filling an important gap in the list of existing human body models. The modeling approach is based on medical image segmentation, growth modeling, smooth surface mesh generation , geometrical deformation and physical deformation.

Description of both fetal projects are made on the Fetal Projects pages and the infant modeling project in presented on the Infant Projects page.