Insight into the three-dimensional (3D) anatomy of the equine heart is essential in veterinary education and to develop minimally invasive intracardiac procedures. The aim was to create a 3D computer model simulating the anatomy of the adult equine heart. Ten horses and five ponies. Ten horses, euthanized for non-cardiovascular reasons, were used for cardiac casting with polyurethane foam and subsequent computed tomography (CT) of the excised heart. In five anaesthetized ponies, a contrast-enhanced electrocardiogram-gated CT protocol was optimized to image the entire heart. Dedicated image processing software was used to create 3D models of all CT scans derived from both methods. Resulting models were compared regarding relative proportions, detail and ease of segmentation. The casting protocol produced high detail, but compliant structures such as the pulmonary trunk were disproportionally expanded by the foam. Optimization of the contrast-enhanced CT protocol, especially adding a delayed phase for visualization of the cardiac veins, resulted in sufficiently detailed CT images to create an anatomically correct 3D model of the pony heart. Rescaling was needed to obtain a horse-sized model. Three-dimensional computer models based on contrast-enhanced CT images appeared superior to those based on casted hearts to represent the situation and are preferred to obtain an anatomically correct heart model useful for education, client communication and research purposes. Scaling was, however, necessary to obtain an approximation of an adult horse heart as cardiac CT imaging is restricted by thoracic size.

中文翻译：

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使用聚氨酯铸造​​技术和体内对比增强计算机断层扫描开发马心脏三维计算机模型

深入了解马心脏的三维 (3D) 解剖结构对于兽医教育和开发微创心内手术至关重要。目的是创建一个模拟成年马心脏解剖结构的 3D 计算机模型。十匹马和五匹小马。十匹因非心血管原因被安乐死的马被用于用聚氨酯泡沫进行心脏铸模，并随后对切除的心脏进行计算机断层扫描（CT）。在五匹麻醉的小马中，对比增强心电图门控 CT 方案经过优化，可对整个心脏进行成像。使用专用图像处理软件来创建源自这两种方法的所有 CT 扫描的 3D 模型。对所得模型的相对比例、细节和分割难易程度进行了比较。铸造方案产生了高细节，但肺干等顺应结构因泡沫而不成比例地膨胀。对比增强 CT 协议的优化，特别是添加延迟相位以实现心脏静脉的可视化，可生成足够详细的 CT 图像，从而创建解剖学上正确的小马心脏 3D 模型。需要重新缩放以获得马大小的模型。基于对比增强 CT 图像的三维计算机模型似乎优于基于铸型心脏的三维计算机模型来表示情况，并且更适合获得可用于教育、客户沟通和研究目的的解剖学上正确的心脏模型。然而，由于心脏 CT 成像受到胸部尺寸的限制，因此需要进行缩放才能获得成年马心脏的近似值。