Optimal alignment of geometric models for comparison

Optimization methods are used to align geometric representations of surfaces extracted from computed tomography (CT) scan data. The development of a metric to obtain superposition of models for comparative analysis is described in detail. The resulting optimization/analysis method is applied to evaluate quantification of bone malformation and the positioning of a prosthetic device. The alignment procedure presented allows data from multiple sources to be compared without special protocols being established for subject positioning. Geometric models that share some segment of homologous structure can be positioned with the given distance metric. The optimization/analysis method is demonstrated in various surface positioning problems to emphasize generality. The presented distance metric can be extended to quantify bone-implant fit