Soft 3D-Printed Phantom of the Human Kidney with Collecting System

Abstract

Organ models are used for planning and simulation of operations, developing new surgical instruments, and training purposes. There is a substantial demand for in vitro organ phantoms, especially in urological surgery. Animal models and existing simulator systems poorly mimic the detailed morphology and the physical properties of human organs. In this paper, we report a novel fabrication process to make a human kidney phantom with realistic anatomical structures and physical properties. The detailed anatomical structure was directly acquired from high resolution CT data sets of human cadaveric kidneys. The soft phantoms were constructed using a novel technique that combines 3D wax printing and polymer molding. Anatomical details and material properties of the phantoms were validated in detail by CT scan, ultrasound, and endoscopy. CT reconstruction, ultrasound examination, and endoscopy showed that the designed phantom mimics a real kidney’s detailed anatomy and correctly corresponds to the targeted human cadaver’s upper urinary tract. Soft materials with a tensile modulus of 0.8–1.5 MPa as well as biocompatible hydrogels were used to mimic human kidney tissues. We developed a method of constructing 3D organ models from medical imaging data using a 3D wax printing and molding process. This method is cost-effective means for obtaining a reproducible and robust model suitable for surgical simulation and training purposes.

A systematic review of clinical value of three-dimensional printing in renal disease

“…Comparison of dimensional accuracy or renal tumour volume between 3D printed models and original imaging data/or surgical results was reported in 5 studies (18,24,(32)(33)(34). Results of these studies showed that 3D printed models are highly accurate in replicating anatomical structures or detecting tumour volumes with mean difference <10% in dimensional measurements between 3D printed models and original imaging data or surgically resected specimens ( Table 1).…”

“…Of 15 studies, 8 (53%) provided quantitative assessments of 3D printed kidney models with reported applications (16,18,24,29,30,(32)(33)(34). Comparison of dimensional accuracy or renal tumour volume between 3D printed models and original imaging data/or surgical results was reported in 5 studies (18,24,(32)(33)(34).…”

“…Of 19 eligible studies, 4 were further excluded because of duplicate publication in 2 studies by the same research group (20,21), while another 2 studies focused on 3D printed renal compartments for nuclear medicine imaging without reporting any clinical application of 3D printed models in renal anatomy or renal disease (22,23). Thus, a total of 15 articles were finally included in this review (15)(16)(17)(18)(24)(25)(26)(27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34). Figure 2 shows the search strategy to identify these eligible studies.…”

Caso Clínico: Uso de Biomodelos Tridimensionales para la Planificación Preoperatoria de Tumores Craneales Fronto - orbitarios

“…Sin embargo en la actualidad, las tecnologías de impresión tridimensional (3D) permiten la transformación de estas imágenes bidimensionales en objetos tangibles de tamaño real, que ofrecen información visual directa con retroalimentación táctil, que pueden ser manipulados sin riesgo. Al parecer la impresión 3D representa la evolución natural de las tecnologías de imagen diagnóstica y su uso es cada vez mayor en el entrenamiento de los profesionales de la salud [1][2][3].…”

“…En la actualidad son muchas las ramas quirúrgicas que se están beneficiando de las tecnologías de impresión 3D con estos fines alrededor del mundo, entre ellas neurocirugía [5,[8][9][10][11][12][13][14], cirugía cardíaca [4,[15][16][17][18][19][20][21], ortopédica [22][23][24][25][26][27], maxilofacial [28][29][30][31], otorrinolaringología [32][33][34], cirugía hepática [35][36][37], urológica [3,38,39], pediátrica [6,[40][41][42], ginecológica [43,44], plástica [45], torácica [46], cirugía general [47].…”