Edited by Gunter Paul and Mohamed Doweidar, Academic Press, 2022,
ISBN: 9780128239131 (Paperback),
xxiv + 894 pages, $200
This text, Digital Human Modeling and Medicine, is a comprehensive overview in 32 chapters distributed within six sections of the state-of-the-art and applications of the field of human modeling and applications in medicine. The 32 chapters were contributed by a total of about 89 contributors. Due to the size of the text, and the finite lifetime of this reviewer, a sampling of the text information follows.
Section 1, “Modelling Methods,” consists of nine chapters and begins with Chapter 1 “From the visible human project to the digital twin,” which discusses the Visible Human Project (1995ish) to current-day “Digital Twin” representations of human to be used in product and process (medical and other) design. An immediate takeaway from this chapter is the recommendation that the prospective purchaser of this text had best obtain the electronic version of the text, as it is replete with electronic links essential to elaboration of the discussions, as well as giving copy and paste access to relevant figures. Eight additional chapters touch on parameter estimation in biological problems, plaque detection, musculoskeletal systems modeling, landmark detection, motion capture and movement simulation, and pathophysiology.
Section 2, “Organs,” contains three chapters discussing particle and bacterial transport in the airway, one chapter on surgical modeling for alleviation of uterine prolapse, another on aortic arch behavior, and a concluding chapter on placental imaging methods. This last chapter reviews the application of the techniques of color doppler ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging, sonoelastography, and ultrasound in the imaging of the placenta in utero for the purposes of diagnostic imaging of the fetus.
Section 3, “Foot digital twin and in silico clinical applications,” contains three chapters giving overviews of “digital twins” of feet, jaws, and corneas, one on air-puff corneal tonometry, and one on gastrointestinal and respiratory tract flow modeling. These discussions are of value for current modeling and potential future practical applications in diagnosis and surgical interventions.
Section 5, “Medical devices,” consists of three chapters covering patient-specific product design, a chapter on patient-specific skull implant design, and a chapter on dental treatment and implant design. These chapters give an especially useful overview of patient-specific design for lower leg prostheses, jaw reconstruction, and dental implants.
Section 6, “Medical application,” concludes with a final six application-specific chapters. These include chapters on whole-body movement modeling, facial and cleft care planning, osteoarthritis pain management, stroke rehabilitation, and implant personalization.
Given the above range of topics, this reviewer suggests that the text has an appeal to a wide range of relevant readers, from engineers to surgeons involved in interactions with the human body biomechanically or surgically. It is comprehensive, professionally written, referenced, and illustrated, and, through examples, of value to newcomers to the field.
—Reviewed by Paul H. King Vanderbilt University