Modelling and manufacturing of 3D-printed, patient-specific, and anthropomorphic gastric phantoms: a pilot study

Interventional devices including intragastric balloons are widely used to treat obesity. This study aims to develop 3D-printed, patient-specific, and anthropomorphic gastric phantoms with mechanical properties similar to those of human stomach. Using computed tomography gastrography (CTG) images of three patients, gastric phantoms were modelled through shape registration to align the stomach shapes of three different phases. Shape accuracies of the original gastric models versus the 3D-printed phantoms were compared using landmark distances. The mechanical properties (elongation and tensile strength), number of silicone coatings (0, 2, and 8 times), and specimen hardness (50, 60, and 70 Shore A) of three materials (Agilus, Elastic, and Flexa) were evaluated. Registration accuracy was significantly lower between the arterial and portal phases (3.16 ± 0.80 mm) than that between the portal and delayed phases (8.92 ± 0.96 mm). The mean shape accuracy difference was less than 10 mm. The mean elongations and tensile strengths of the Agilus, Elastic, and Flexa were 264%, 145%, and 146% and 1.14, 1.59, and 2.15 MPa, respectively, and their mechanical properties differed significantly (all p < 0.05). Elongation and tensile strength assessments, CTG image registration and 3D printing resulted in highly realistic and patient-specific gastric phantoms with reasonable shape accuracies.