Multiple application of three-dimensional soft kidney models with localized kidney cancer: A pilot study

To evaluate the effectiveness of three-dimensional printing application in urology for localized renal cancer treatment using three-dimensional printed soft models.

The study included five patients with kidney tumors. The patients were treated in the Urology Clinic of I.M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University from February 2016 to June 2017. Personalized three-dimensional printed models based on computed tomographic images were created. Five surgeons took part in a survey in which the utility of computed tomographic images versus three-dimensional printed models for presurgical planning was compared. A laparoscopic partial nephrectomy training using the developed three-dimensional printed models was performed by the same surgeons in a surgical training box.

The patients underwent endoscopic surgery using laparoscopic access. The average time of surgery was 187 min. All the operations were performed with complete renal artery clamping. The average warm ischemia time was 19.5 min and the average blood loss was 170 mL. No conversions to open surgery or radical nephrectomy, and no postoperative complications and deaths were observed. All the surgical margins were negative. The tumors were morphologically identified as renal cell carcinoma in four cases and as oncocytoma in one case.

The developed three-dimensional printed models allow one to evaluate the pathological anatomy of tumors more effectively. High similarity between three-dimensional models and native kidneys contribute to improvement of surgical skills necessary for partial nephrectomy. Training on the three-dimensional models also allows surgeons to facilitate selection of an optimal surgical tactics for each patient.