Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 26, 2025
Creation of a High-Fidelity, Low-Cost, Intraosseous Line Placement Task Trainer via 3D Printing
Published on: August 17, 2022
Validation of a 3-Dimensional-Printed Infant Tibia for Intraosseous Needle Insertion Training
Keya Manshadi1, Todd P Chang, Anita Schmidt
1From the Division of Emergency and Transport Medicine (K.M., T.P.C., A.S., P.P., J.L.S.), Division of Anesthesiology Critical Care Medicine (J.L., A.R.), Children's Hospital Los Angeles; Department of Pediatrics (T.P.C., J.L., A.R., K.I., J.L.S.), Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California; and Children's Orthopedic Center (K.I.), Children's Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA.
New 3D printed tibia models offer realistic and affordable training for pediatric intraosseous (IO) needle placement. These cost-effective, 3D printed bone models provide superior anatomical and functional fidelity for medical training.
Area of Science:
- Medical Simulation
- 3D Printing Technology
- Pediatric Emergency Medicine
Background:
- Existing pediatric intraosseous (IO) training models lack realistic anatomy and function.
- Current models are often prohibitively expensive for widespread use.
- There is a need for cost-effective, high-fidelity training tools for IO procedures.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a 3D printed (3DP) tibia model for pediatric intraosseous (IO) placement training.
- To assess the anatomic and functional realism of 3DP IO bone models.
- To compare the performance of 3DP models against existing IO training models.
Main Methods:
- Utilized dual-extrusion fused-filament fabrication to print multiple 3DP tibia models.
- Optimized models iteratively, selecting polypropylene (3DP clear) and polylactic acid/polypropylene (3DP white) versions.
- Developed a novel IO bone model assessment tool and used it with 30 physicians to evaluate models during IO needle insertion.
Main Results:
- The 3DP white bone model demonstrated statistically significant higher scores in anatomy, heft, bone anchoring, resistance, and "give" compared to a chicken bone reference.
- Twenty-two out of 30 physicians ranked the 3DP white bone as their top preference.
- The cost to produce a 3DP white bone model is only $1.10.
Conclusions:
- 3D printed IO tibia models derived from CT scans offer high anatomic and functional realism.
- These models are easily replicable and highly regarded by physicians.
- 3DP IO tibia models provide a cost-effective alternative to commercial training models.
