[Introduction and Applications of 3D Printing in Radiological Technology]

A 3D printing emerges as a common procedure in clinical radiology practice after installation of a module that converts the digital imaging and communications in medicine (DICOM) dataset into stereolithography (STL) data on medical workstations. However, they did not conventionally provide the appropriate filtering, sculpting, hollowing out, and Boolean (subtraction) operations on STL data. These functions are indispensable to handle the STL data to fabricate the smooth, low-cost, and sophisticated models. Here are some tips for handling the 3D data with three software packages through making a sample lumbar spine model. Because they are all free- and open-source software with the exception of Boolean operations, they could make it easy for anyone to fabricate their 3D model imaged by CT or MRI. We tested the loop subdivision surface algorithms for the smoothing, the sculpting function for removing a sharp prick, and the hollowing function to save the cost. Computer-aided design (CAD) is also used to fabricate the devices in medical research. We designed and developed a cap attached to a glass dosimeter to show the effectiveness of CAD in radiological research. Lastly, we discuss the important matters for 3D printing and examples of the clinical applications.