The advent of three-dimensional printing (3DP) technology has enabled the creation of a tangible and complex 3D object that goes beyond a simple 3D-shaded visualization on a flat monitor. Since the early 2000s, 3DP machines have been used only in hard tissue applications. Recently developed multi-materials for 3DP have been used extensively for a variety of medical applications, such as personalized surgical planning and guidance, customized implants, biomedical research, and preclinical education. In this review article, we discuss the 3D reconstruction process, touching on medical imaging, and various 3DP systems applicable to medicine. In addition, the 3DP medical applications using multi-materials are introduced, as well as our recent results.
Herein, realistic and reusable phantoms for simulation of pediatric lung video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) were proposed and evaluated. 3D-printed phantoms for VATS were designed based on chest computed tomography (CT) data of a pediatric patient with esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula. Models reflecting the patient-specific structure were fabricated based on the CT images. Appropriate reusable design, realistic mechanical properties with various material types, and 3D printers (fused deposition modeling (FDM) and PolyJet printers) were used to represent the realistic anatomical structures. As a result, the phantom printed by PolyJet reflected closer mechanical properties than those of the FDM phantom. Accuracies (mean difference ± 95 confidence interval) of phantoms by FDM and PolyJet were 0.53 ± 0.46 and 0.98 ± 0.55 mm, respectively. Phantoms were used by surgeons for VATS training, which is considered more reflective of the clinical situation than the conventional simulation phantom. In conclusion, the patient-specific, realistic, and reusable VATS phantom provides a better understanding the complex anatomical structure of a patient and could be used as an educational phantom for esophageal structure replacement in VATS.
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