Rapid prototyping of custom radiocontrast agent markers for computed tomography-guided procedures

The objective of this study was to evaluate a method for printing a custom radiocontrast agent mixture to develop computed tomography markers of various shapes and sizes for assisting physicians in computed tomography-guided procedures. The radiocontrast agent mixture was designed to be bright in a computed tomography image, able to be extruded from a nozzle as a liquid and transition into a solid, and sufficiently viscous to be extruded through the tip of a needle in a controlled manner. A mixture printing method was developed using a syringe to house the mixture, a syringe pump to extrude the mixture, and a computer numeric control laser cutter to direct the nozzle in the desired path. To assess the efficacy of printing the radiocontrast agent mixture, we printed several designs, collected computed tomography images, and evaluated various physical properties of the printing method and the resulting computed tomography markers. The average line thickness was 1.56 mm (standard deviation of 0.19 mm, n = 30), the infill percentage was 99.9%, and the deviation in roundness was 0.23 mm (n = 30). These results demonstrated the ability of the proposed method to create various types of skin markers, such as dots, lines, and hollow or solid shapes. Additionally, flat printed patterns can be folded to form three-dimensional structures that can be used to guide and support needle insertions.