Effect of a Training System Utilizing 3-Dimensionally Printed Patient-Specific Vascular Models on Endovascular...

This study aimed to determine the effect of simulation training using a 3-dimensionally (3D) printed patient-specific vascular model on the advanced vascular catheterization skills of experienced interventional radiologists. Two specific anatomical types of 3D-printed patient-specific models from 2 patients with challenging celiac axis arterial anatomy were constructed. The Global Rating Scale of Endovascular Performance (GRS-EP) was used to evaluate vascular insertion skills. The training sessions comprised pretraining and posttraining evaluations. Two blinded raters evaluated the effectiveness of the training. Improvements were observed in success rate, insertion time, and GRS-EP scores among all 5 experienced interventonial radiologists. The GRS-EP demonstrated high interrater reliability. Posttraining scores increased significantly in both video and self-evaluations. Although there is no proof that better performance on this type of model directly translates to improved performance in humans, simulation training using this model has the potential to help experienced interventional radiologists further refine their vascular catheterization skills.