Scanning for a 3D-printed surgical case
The accuracy of a surgical guide, model or implant is limited by the scan it is built from — never by the printer. This page is the protocol: what to set at the console, how to export it, and what cannot be used.
Already scanned? Check it before you send itStart here
The 60-second version
If you read nothing else on this page, this is what makes a scan usable.
Thin slices
0.625 mm ideal, 1 mm maximum. Reconstruct at an increment no larger than the slice thickness, constant across the whole series.
Bone kernel
Reconstruct a sharp / bone-algorithm series. A soft-tissue kernel alone cannot be segmented into an accurate bone model.
Thin axial source series
The model is built from the original axial images, so the thin axial series must be in what you send. A coronal or sagittal reformat cannot stand in for it. If in doubt, send the whole study — what matters is that the thin axials are in it.
The whole folder, uncompressed
Every slice, DICOM format, one file per slice, no lossy compression, no bundled viewer, no password.
Zero gantry tilt
Tilt skews the acquired volume. Scan at 0°.
Do not edit the metadata
De-identify if you need to — but never change acquisition values. We measure the geometry independently, so edited tags cannot make a scan usable.
A thin bone-kernel series is a reconstruction, not a second scan. It is generated from raw data you have already acquired and costs the patient no additional radiation.
Send this to whoever is scanning
Both are the same protocol as this page, on one page.
Two minutes forty
Watch it instead
The same protocol, shown rather than listed — for anyone who would rather see what a usable scan looks like than read it.
Two minutes forty, narrated — and everything is on screen too, so it works with the sound off. It covers the same six rules as this page: why a bone kernel matters, why a reformat cannot stand in for the axials, and what a study with missing slices looks like.
CT · All Cases
General Imaging Requirements
These apply to every case we receive, regardless of procedure type.
- 1
Slice Thickness. Under 1 mm, ideally 0.625 mm. Reconstruct a bone series and a soft-tissue series at this thickness.
- 2
Reconstruction Increment. The increment must be less than or equal to the slice thickness, and constant across the entire series — no gaps, no mid-series change.
- 3
Axial Source Images. Send the original axial series. A thin axial volume reformats into coronal and sagittal views automatically, so separately reconstructed reformats are not needed and cannot be used in their place.
- 4
Bone and Soft Tissue. Reconstruct with a bone / sharp kernel and also send the soft-tissue series. Both are used in planning.
- 5
RAW DICOM Folder. Share the complete unprocessed, uncompressed DICOM folder exactly as exported — every slice, one file per slice, no lossy export.
- 6
Zero Motion. The patient must remain completely still throughout. A scan with motion artifacts cannot be used and will require a repeat.
- 7
Export at 1:1. Export at native resolution — no downsampling. If the export dialog offers X, Y and Z ratios, set all three to 1:1.
- 8
Zero Gantry Tilt. Scan at 0° tilt with no oblique acquisition. A tilted acquisition produces a skewed volume in which anatomy is displaced progressively along the scan.
- 9
Metal / Artefact. Remove jewellery, braces and metallic items. Where hardware or restorations cannot be removed, apply the scanner's MAR algorithm (iMAR / O-MAR / SEMAR / CLIMAR) and send BOTH the original and MAR-corrected series.
For the technologist
At the Console
These are the console settings for a CT that will be used to build a patient-specific model, guide or implant. Where a value is not listed, use your standard diagnostic protocol.
| Parameter | Setting | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Slice thickness | 0.625 mm ideal · 1.0 mm maximum | Above 1.5 mm a scan cannot be used for surgical guides or implants. |
| Reconstruction increment | ≤ slice thickness, contiguous | Overlapping reconstruction improves the result. Gaps do not. |
| Consistency | Constant throughout the acquisition | No change in thickness, increment, FOV or centring mid-series. |
| Reconstruction kernel | Bone / sharp | Plus a soft-tissue series. See the kernel table below for your scanner. |
| In-plane pixel size | Under 1.0 × 1.0 mm | Typically 0.3–0.5 mm at a 250 mm display FOV. |
| Matrix | 512 × 512 | Square matrix. Some scanners default to rectangular — set it manually. |
| Display FOV | Smallest that encloses the full anatomy | 250–320 mm for head and neck. Do not clip the region of interest. |
| kVp | 120 (140 for large patients) | Use a lower kV only when boosting iodine contrast for a vascular model. |
| mA | Auto / tube current modulation | Apply your standard dose-optimisation and paediatric protocols. |
| Pitch | ≤ 1 (helical) | GE: High Quality. Canon / Toshiba: Detail. |
| Rotation time | 1 second or less | |
| Gantry tilt | 0° | No tilt, no oblique acquisition. |
| Table | Do not change height or X/Y centring mid-scan | Changing it means the slices no longer form a single volume. |
| Series | All images in one series | Do not split the acquisition across several series. |
| Compression | Uncompressed or lossless only | Lossy compression permanently destroys the data we segment. |
Recommended Convolution Kernel by Scanner
| Scanner | Kernel / Algorithm |
|---|---|
| GE | Bone, Boneplus, HDBONE, Ultra |
| Philips | D, E, YA, YB, YC, YD |
| Siemens | B60, B70, B75, B80 (legacy); Br56, Br59, Br69 (ADMIRE) |
| Toshiba / Canon | FC30, FC50, FC80, FC81 |
| UIH | Sharp |
If your scanner is not listed, choose the sharpest bone or high-resolution algorithm available and send the soft-tissue series alongside it. Tell us which kernel you used and we will confirm it.
You may have seen protocols from implant companies that ask for a smooth or standard kernel rather than a bone kernel. Both are correct for their purpose: a smoothing kernel suits guides that seat on a broad, smooth cortical surface, where edge-enhancement noise disturbs the fit. Craniomaxillofacial and fine-bone work needs the detail a sharp kernel preserves. For our cases, reconstruct bone — and send the soft-tissue series too.
Label the series
Where your scanner allows it, set the Study Description to this string on the thin bone series. It makes the correct series easy to find in PACS later, including by someone who was not present at the scan.
O3D THIN AXIAL BONEKeep the raw data
Please retain the raw scan data for at least 14 days. If anything is wrong with the export, a retained raw dataset lets us fix it by re-reconstructing — with no repeat scan and no additional dose to the patient.
For the technologist
Exporting the Study
This is where most unusable data is created. The scan itself is often correct; what reaches us is a reformat, a screenshot, or a compressed copy. These rules hold on every scanner and workstation, whatever the menu is called.
- Export from the source series — never from a 3D, MPR or reformat view.
- Format: DICOM, one file per slice ("multi-file", or "set of single frame DICOM files"). Not JPEG, BMP, PDF, video, or "save image".
- Compression: uncompressed, none, or lossless. If asked for a ratio, choose 1:1 on X, Y and Z.
- Range: every slice in the series. Do not sub-sample and do not crop the range.
- Do not bundle a viewer application, and do not password-protect or encrypt the archive.
- Zip the folder and upload the zip, or upload the folder directly.
- Include the thin bone-kernel axial series. Include the soft-tissue series alongside it.
Known traps on specific systems
GE (console / AW workstation)
On the AW workstation, "Save Image" produces a Secondary Capture — effectively a screenshot in a DICOM wrapper, with no usable geometry. Use Save As / Export → DICOM instead, and export the source series rather than a Volume Viewer result.
Siemens (syngo / syngo.via)
Add the thin bone reconstruction as a separate recon job at the console; it is not created automatically. Some models — the SOMATOM GO in particular — default to a non-square matrix and must be set manually to 512 × 512. Export via Patient Browser → Export → DICOM, offline / uncompressed, and do not attach the syngo viewer.
Philips (console / IntelliSpace)
Export via IntelliSpace → Export → DICOM, uncompressed. Send the source axial series, not an IntelliSpace 3D or MPR result series.
Canon / Toshiba (Aquilion)
Select an FC-series bone kernel (FC30, FC50, FC80, FC81) and export the reconstructed volume, not a screen result. Use the Detail pitch mode.
CBCT (Planmeca, Carestream, Sirona, NewTom, Vatech, i-CAT)
Export as multi-file DICOM with a .dcm extension — in Planmeca Romexis this is Output → Export Volume → "Set of Single Frame DICOM Files", exported to a folder. Set X, Y and Z to 1:1; leaving them at 2:1 or 4:1 silently halves your resolution. A correct export is typically 100 or more .dcm files. Do not send a proprietary volume file (.vol, i-Dixel) or a disc containing only the viewer.
Common failures
What We Cannot Use
Each of these arrives regularly, and none of them can be used in place of the axial series. You never need to delete anything: send the complete study as exported. This list is about what cannot stand in for the thin axial series, not about trimming the disc. If what you have is on this list, the original data is almost always still on the scanner.
| Screenshots or Secondary Capture images | A picture of the study, not the study. It carries no slice geometry. | |
| 3D, VRT or volume-render series | Already segmented by the workstation, at settings we cannot verify or reverse. | |
| Coronal or sagittal reformats instead of the axial series | A reformat is a resampling of the axials and carries no geometry they do not already have. Send the axial series; extra reformats alongside it are fine. | |
| The scout or localiser only | A positioning image, not a diagnostic volume. | |
| The soft-tissue series only | Bone edges are blurred by the smoothing kernel and cannot be thresholded accurately. | |
| The thick reporting series only | The 3–5 mm series goes to PACS; the thin series usually exists on the scanner and is what we need. | |
| A report PDF, JPEG images, or an AVI cine | Not imaging data. | |
| Lossy / JPEG-compressed DICOM | Detail is permanently discarded. The file records this, so it cannot be recovered. | |
| A series with gaps or missing slices | The model will have holes or wrong dimensions along the scan axis. | |
| A tilted or oblique acquisition | The volume is skewed; anatomy is displaced increasingly along the scan. | |
| One study split across several series | The slices no longer form a single continuous volume. | |
| A scan that clips the region of interest | Anatomy outside the field of view cannot be reconstructed. | |
| Images with burned-in annotation over anatomy | The text is part of the pixel data and corrupts segmentation. | |
| A disc containing only a proprietary viewer | We need the DICOM files themselves, not the viewer application. | |
| A password-protected or encrypted archive | It cannot be opened by our intake system. |
De-identification
Patient Privacy and the DICOM Header
De-identifying a study before sharing it is good practice and we fully support it. What matters is doing it in a way that keeps the study usable — and never altering what the scanner actually recorded.
How to de-identify correctly
Use your PACS or scanner de-identification function rather than editing tags by hand. The DICOM standard already defines exactly the right setting for this situation: the Basic Application Level Confidentiality Profile, with the Retain Device Identity, Retain Patient Characteristics, Retain Safe Private and Retain UIDs options enabled. That removes patient identifiers while preserving everything the geometry depends on. If you are unsure whether your de-identification will preserve the geometry, send us a single test slice first and we will confirm before the full study is exported.
Tags that must survive de-identification
| Tag | Name | Why it is needed |
|---|---|---|
| (0028,0030) | Pixel Spacing | In-plane scale. Without it the model has no known size. |
| (0018,0050) | Slice Thickness | Voxel depth. |
| (0020,0032) | Image Position (Patient) | The true slice position — the only reliable source of slice spacing. |
| (0020,0037) | Image Orientation (Patient) | Direction cosines. Without it, left/right and front/back can flip. |
| (0028,1052) · (0028,1053) | Rescale Intercept / Slope | Converts stored values to Hounsfield units. |
| (0018,1210) | Convolution Kernel | Tells us how the series will behave at a threshold. |
| (0018,0060) | KVP | Affects beam hardening and density behaviour. |
| (0008,0060) | Modality | CT, MR or other. |
| (0008,0008) | Image Type | Distinguishes an original acquisition from a derived series. |
| (0020,000D) · (0020,000E) · (0008,0018) | Study / Series / SOP Instance UID | Groups slices into a volume. May be re-mapped, but must stay internally consistent. |
Never edit acquisition values
Changing a value such as Slice Thickness or slice spacing so that a scan appears to meet a requirement is a different act from de-identification. It alters the clinical record, it is invisible to the surgeon, and it produces a guide or implant built to a geometry the patient does not have. There is no error message when this happens — the first indication is in theatre.
It also does not work. We measure slice spacing from the recorded slice positions rather than trusting the spacing tag, so the true geometry of a study is always what we build from. Where a tag and the geometry disagree, we use the geometry and record the discrepancy in the case file. We re-derive; we never rewrite.
For the radiologist
Why These Numbers
These requirements are not house preferences. They follow from how a 3D model is built out of a stack of images.
Why slice thickness is the parameter that matters most
A structure is only reconstructed accurately if it appears on several consecutive slices. The RSNA 3D Printing Special Interest Group states it directly: for anatomy measuring 3 mm, that anatomy should be captured on at least 3 sequential images, so slice thickness should be no greater than 1 mm and preferably smaller. Below that threshold the surface is interpolated rather than measured, and the model shows visible stair-stepping along the scan axis.
Why the increment must be no larger than the thickness
Slice thickness describes how thick each reconstructed slice is; the increment describes how far apart they are. If the increment exceeds the thickness there is unsampled anatomy between slices, and the reconstruction has to invent it. Where the increment is smaller than the collimation, the resulting overlap measurably improves the result.
Why a bone kernel, and why we still want the soft-tissue series
Sharp kernels preserve edge definition at the cost of noise; smoothing kernels reduce noise at the cost of edge definition. Bone segmentation depends on a threshold applied at the bone–soft-tissue boundary, so a blurred edge moves that boundary and shifts every dimension of the model. The soft-tissue series remains useful for airway, vessels and the surrounding anatomy.
Why gantry tilt is a hard requirement
Head CT commonly uses 10–15° of tilt to spare the orbits. That produces an acquisition grid where the slice planes and the direction of table travel are not perpendicular. Most reconstruction software assumes they are, and silently stacks the volume as if it were orthogonal — displacing anatomy progressively along the scan, by centimetres at the far end. We detect and correct this, but a scan acquired at 0° needs no correction at all.
Why compression cannot be accepted
Lossy compression discards information judged imperceptible to a human reader. Segmentation is not a human reader: it operates on exact voxel values at a threshold, and the discarded detail sits precisely at the edges that define the model. The loss is recorded in the file and is not reversible.
Why the printer is never the limiting factor
Our printers build in layers of tens of microns. A CT voxel is typically 300–700 microns. The scan is always the constraint on accuracy, which is why protocol matters far more than print technology.
These requirements align with the guidelines published by the Radiological Society of North America 3D Printing Special Interest Group. Where your clinical judgement calls for a different protocol, contact us before the scan and we will work to it.
CBCT
When Cone Beam CT Can Be Used
CBCT is acceptable for some of our work and not for others. Rather than a blanket rule, here is exactly where it can and cannot be used.
CBCT is acceptable for
- Tooth-borne dental implant guides
- Gross craniomaxillofacial anatomical models
- Orthognathic planning where bone morphology, not density, drives the plan
Medical CT is required for
- Load-bearing titanium patient-specific implants
- Condylar, temporal bone and other fine-detail anatomy
- Any case where tissue density or Hounsfield values inform the design
- Cranial flap moulds and cranial helmets
If you are using CBCT
- Voxel size 0.3–0.4 mm or smaller, isotropic.
- Smallest field of view that fully encloses the anatomy — but it must enclose all of it. Truncated anatomy cannot be reconstructed.
- Immobilise the patient properly. CBCT scan times are long and most units scan seated or standing, which makes motion the most common cause of an unusable CBCT.
- Export as multi-file DICOM at a 1:1 ratio on all three axes (see Exporting the study).
CBCT grey values are not true Hounsfield units, and they shift depending on where the anatomy sits within the field of view. This means a segmentation threshold cannot be carried over from CT or from another CBCT — it has to be set visually for each case, which is why CBCT-derived models carry a quality note.
Radiation-protection guidance correctly tells you to use the largest voxel size consistent with the diagnostic task. A 3D-printed guide is a different task from a diagnostic read, and it needs finer voxels than diagnosis alone would justify. Where the case allows it, reduce the field of view rather than coarsening the voxel.
By procedure
Procedure-Specific Requirements
In addition to the general requirements above, each procedure type has specific imaging and data needs.
Free Flap Fibula Surgery
- CT of head and neck (jaw open with a 1 cm gap using non-radio-opaque aid).
- CT Angiography of lower limbs — ensure all vessels are clearly visualized.
- Intraoral scans of upper and lower arches and bite scan are recommended — to be shared in .stl or .obj or .ply file format.
- Provide dental drill sleeves for your chosen implant system to enable integration with the fibula guide.
Moulds for Cranioplasty with PMMA Implants
- CT of the entire head and neck region.
Spine and Vertebral Models
- Contrast-enhanced CT required if vertebral artery tracing and visualization is needed.
Orthognathic Surgery
- CT of head and neck (jaw open with a 1 cm gap using non-radio-opaque aid).
- Position the patient so the occlusal plane coincides with the axial slices — check this on the scout and with the scanner's laser pointers.
- Intraoral scans of upper and lower arches and bite scan are mandatory — to be shared in .stl or .obj or .ply file format.
- If intraoral scan is not feasible, courier us the stone models.
- Clinical photographs of the upper and lower arch, bite and full face (anterior, lateral).
Note: This service is limited to bony movement simulations and does not extend to soft tissue prediction.
Dental Implant Planning
- CT of head and neck only (jaw open with a 1 cm gap, use a non-radio-opaque aid if needed).
- Intraoral scans of the upper and lower arches, and bite scan are mandatory — to be shared in .stl or .obj or .ply file format.
- CT or optical scan of the temporary prosthesis/denture.
- CT of head and neck while wearing the temporary prosthesis in occlusion.
- Provide dental drill sleeves for your chosen implant system to enable integration with the guide.
Zygoma Implant Planning
- CT of head and neck (jaw open with a 1 cm gap using non-radio-opaque aid).
- Intraoral scans of upper and lower arches and bite scans are mandatory — to be shared in .stl or .obj or .ply file format.
- If intraoral scan is not feasible, courier us the stone models.
Option A
- CT or optical scan of the temporary prosthesis.
- CT of head and neck (jaw open with a 1 cm gap using non-radio-opaque aid).
- CT of head and neck with temporary prosthesis in occlusion.
Option B
- CT of temporary prosthesis (with radio-opaque markers).
- CT of head and neck with prosthesis (with markers) in occlusion.
Titanium Patient-Specific Implants (Ti-PSI)
- CT of head and neck with a slice thickness of 0.625 mm only.
- It is critical that there are no artifacts of any kind present in the scan.
- Scan must fully capture the region of interest and surrounding anatomy.
- Medical CT only — CBCT cannot be used for load-bearing patient-specific implants.
Orthopedic Models
- Scan must fully capture the region of interest and surrounding anatomy.
- Contrast-enhanced CT / CT Angiography required if arterial tracing and visualization is needed.
Cranial Helmets
- CT scan of the head and neck must be taken with a slice thickness of 1 mm or less.
- Scan must fully capture the area of interest and surrounding anatomy.
- Soft padding may be used to stabilize the head, but it must not distort the natural contour of the head or ears. Avoid any materials or devices (e.g., bandages, catheters, monitoring equipment) that could interfere with or alter head shape.
- If the CT scan is more than 30 days old, or if there are noticeable changes in head shape, alternate imaging or additional measurements may be required.
Anatomical Models and Surgical Guides
- CT of head and neck with a slice thickness of 0.625 mm only.
- Scan must fully capture the region of interest and surrounding anatomy.
- If applicable, CT scan of the entire head and neck (jaw open with a 1 cm gap, use a non-radio-opaque aid if needed).
MRI · Soft Tissue
MRI for Soft-Tissue Models
CT is ideal for bone; for soft-tissue models — tumours, vasculature, cardiac, organs, and cartilage — we work from MRI. Unlike CT, MRI has no fixed density scale (no Hounsfield units), so two things make an MRI segmentable into an accurate 3D-printable model: the right sequence for the target tissue, and high-resolution, gap-free 3D geometry. Because MRI protocols vary by scanner and vendor, please involve us before the scan so we can help tailor the sequence.
- 1
Acquire a true 3D volumetric sequence (e.g. MPRAGE, SPACE / CUBE / VISTA, VIBE, or bSSFP) — not thick 2D multi-slice stacks.
- 2
Target ≤1 mm isotropic voxels (ideally smaller). Rule of thumb: the smallest structure of interest should appear on at least 3 consecutive slices.
- 3
Slices must be contiguous with no inter-slice gap. Thick or gapped slices produce stair-stepped, inaccurate models.
- 4
Aim for signal-to-noise and contrast in the region of interest at least as high as you would use for 3D visualisation.
- 5
3T is preferred where resolution and SNR matter (brain, prostate, tumour); 1.5T is fully acceptable for cardiac and most musculoskeletal work.
- 6
Control motion: breath-hold or respiratory navigation for abdomen and liver; ECG gating (± respiratory navigation) for cardiac.
- 7
Use fat suppression (Dixon-based) where fat would obscure the target, e.g. abdomen, liver, and post-contrast tumour.
- 8
Acquire true axial or sagittal slices — do not acquire obliquely.
Recommended Sequence by Target Tissue
| Target | Preferred sequence(s) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Tumour / oncology (brain, liver, renal) | Post-contrast 3D T1 (SPACE / CUBE / VISTA); VIBE alternative; MPRAGE for grey/white-matter contrast | Gadolinium-enhanced, ~1 mm isotropic. 3T; Dixon fat-saturation for body regions. |
| Cardiac / congenital heart | 3D bSSFP / SSFP (TrueFISP / FIESTA) plus contrast-enhanced 3D FLASH angiography | ECG-gated ± respiratory navigation. 1.5T common. ~1 mm isotropic. |
| Vascular / aneurysm | Contrast-enhanced MRA (3D T1 spoiled GRE); TOF or SSFP alternative for lumen | Radiation-free alternative to CT angiography. Contact us to confirm the protocol. |
| Neuro / musculoskeletal / fetal | Brain: 3D T1 MPRAGE + 3D T2 / FLAIR. Cartilage / labrum: MP2RAGE or 3D T2 TrueFISP. Fetal: fast single-shot | Brain and MSK at 3T (MSK also 1.5T), ~1 mm isotropic. Fetal uses motion-freezing sequences. |
DICOM Export
- Share the complete RAW, uncompressed DICOM of the single 3D series — no lossy JPEG, no screenshots or reformatted secondary captures.
- Preserve slice geometry (Image Position / Orientation Patient) so the volume reconstructs accurately.
- One contiguous series per model, correctly labelled, so we can identify the 3D volume rather than a localiser or derived map.
Note: MRI segmentation is more involved than CT, and protocols vary by scanner and vendor. These recommendations align with the RSNA 3D Printing Special Interest Group guidelines — please contact us before scanning so we can confirm the exact sequence for your case.
Quick Reference
Scan Technician Checklist
Use this interactive guide at the scanner — tick items as you go, then reset for the next patient.
CT · All Cases
Universal Imaging Requirements
Under 1 mm, ideally 0.625 mm. Reconstruct a bone series and a soft-tissue series at this thickness.
The increment must be less than or equal to the slice thickness, and constant across the entire series — no gaps, no mid-series change.
Send the original axial series. A thin axial volume reformats into coronal and sagittal views automatically, so separately reconstructed reformats are not needed and cannot be used in their place.
Reconstruct with a bone / sharp kernel and also send the soft-tissue series. Both are used in planning.
Share the complete unprocessed, uncompressed DICOM folder exactly as exported — every slice, one file per slice, no lossy export.
The patient must remain completely still throughout. A scan with motion artifacts cannot be used and will require a repeat.
Export at native resolution — no downsampling. If the export dialog offers X, Y and Z ratios, set all three to 1:1.
Scan at 0° tilt with no oblique acquisition. A tilted acquisition produces a skewed volume in which anatomy is displaced progressively along the scan.
Remove jewellery, braces and metallic items. Where hardware or restorations cannot be removed, apply the scanner's MAR algorithm (iMAR / O-MAR / SEMAR / CLIMAR) and send BOTH the original and MAR-corrected series.
Recommended Convolution Kernel by Scanner Brand
| Scanner | Kernel / Algorithm |
|---|---|
| GE | Bone, Boneplus, HDBONE, Ultra |
| Philips | D, E, YA, YB, YC, YD |
| Siemens | B60, B70, B75, B80 (legacy); Br56, Br59, Br69 (ADMIRE) |
| Toshiba / Canon | FC30, FC50, FC80, FC81 |
| UIH | Sharp |
Procedure-Specific Checklist
Head & Neck · Orthognathic · Zygoma
- CT of head and neck
- Jaw open 1 cm — non-radio-opaque prop only (foam / cotton) — NOT metal
- Intraoral scan: upper arch, lower arch, bite registration — .stl / .obj / .plyRequiredIf intraoral scan not feasible: courier stone models
- Clinical photos: full face (anterior), lateral view, upper arch, lower arch, bite
Service limited to bony movement simulations — does not extend to soft tissue prediction.
Zygoma — Option A
- CT or optical scan of the temporary prosthesis / denture
- CT of head and neck — jaw open 1 cm, non-radio-opaque prop
- CT of head and neck — prosthesis in occlusion (biting down)
Zygoma — Option B
- CT of temporary prosthesis with radio-opaque markers
- CT of head and neck — marked prosthesis in occlusion
Metal Artifact Reduction (MAR)
Metallic artifacts can significantly impact the accuracy of planning, design, and fitment of surgical guides and anatomical models. In cases with metallic hardware (e.g., plates/screws/dental restorations), please reconstruct the CT scan using the scanner's iterative Metal Artifact Reduction (MAR) algorithm (iMAR / O-MAR / SEMAR / CLIMAR or equivalent) and provide both the original and MAR-corrected DICOM series.
We ask for both series because MAR can locally distort bone immediately adjacent to the metal while correcting the streaks further out. Having the uncorrected series alongside lets our engineers judge which one to trust in each region.
If a Scan Does Not Meet These Requirements
Data that does not meet these requirements cannot be used, and the case cannot proceed until conforming data is provided. In most cases a repeat scan is avoidable: if the raw data is still on the scanner, the correct series can usually be reconstructed and re-exported at no additional dose to the patient. This is why we ask for raw data to be retained for 14 days.
If clinical circumstances or your standard of care require a deviation from this protocol, please confirm it with us and inform the referring surgeon before submitting the data. An agreed deviation is straightforward to work with; an unflagged one usually is not.
Not sure what you need?
Send us the case details and we will confirm the exact imaging requirements before you book the scan. Getting the scan right the first time saves time for everyone.
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