3D printed kidney model could be an important educational tool for residents

Area of Science:

• Urology
• Medical Imaging
• Surgical Education

Background:

• The R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score is crucial for evaluating kidney tumors.
• Junior physicians may face challenges in accurately assessing this score using traditional imaging.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine if three-dimensional (3D) kidney models improve the accuracy of R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry score evaluation by junior physicians.
• To assess the utility of 3D models as an educational tool in urology.

Main Methods:

• Urology residents evaluated R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry scores for 64 renal tumors.
• Residents used either computed tomography (CT) alone or CT combined with patient-specific 3D-printed kidney models.
• Consistency with an expert evaluation was measured using Cohen's kappa score.

Main Results:

• Residents using 3D kidney models and CT demonstrated significantly higher accuracy in overall R.E.N.A.L. nephrometry scoring compared to CT alone (P < .001).
• Accuracy for individual components (E, N, A, L) also showed improvement with the addition of 3D models (P = .020-.089).

Conclusions:

• Patient-specific 3D-printed kidney models enhance resident understanding of renal tumor complexity.
• These models represent a significant advancement in surgical education for urology residents.