Three-dimensional printing to facilitate anatomic study, device development, simulation, and planning in thoracic...

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging and 3D Printing Technologies
• Cardiovascular Anatomy and Surgical Applications

Background:

• Advancements in additive 3D printing and medical imaging enable patient-specific anatomic model creation.
• Additive manufacturing, also known as rapid prototyping, offers novel applications in healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the utility of 3D printing technology for thoracic surgery patient care and research.
• To create patient-specific pulmonary artery (PA) models for research on regional lung chemotherapy.

Main Methods:

• Utilized computed tomography (CT) and CT angiography with segmentation software for 3D model reconstruction of PAs.
• Generated 3D polygon mesh models, exported as stereolithographic data, and processed for printing.
• Employed rapid prototyping to create flexible 3D printed replicas of 10 patient PAs with 1.5 mm wall thickness.

Main Results:

• Successfully created 10 flexible 3D printed pulmonary artery models without failures.
• Identified significant anatomical differences, such as the number of proximal branches, between left and right PAs.
• Model design averaged 8 hours per patient, with an aggregate printing time of 97 hours.

Conclusions:

• 3D rapid prototyping effectively replicates complex pulmonary artery anatomy.
• These patient-specific models support anatomical study, surgical planning, and the development of medical devices.
• This technology holds promise for advancing thoracic surgery research and patient care.