Medical 3D printing for vascular interventions and surgical oncology: a primer for the 2016 radiological society of North America (RSNA) hands-on course in 3D printing

• DOI: 10.1186/s41205-016-0008-6
• Publication Date: 2016-11-15T07:10:48Z
• Authors: Leonid Chepelev; Taryn Hodgdon; Ashish Gupta; Aili Wang; Carlos Torres; Satheesh Krishna; Ekin Akyuz; Dimitrios Mitsouras; Adnan Sheikh
• Keywords: Biomedical Engineering; Orthopedic Surgery; R895-920; 610; Computer-aided design; Bioengineering; Medical physics. Medical radiology. Nuclear medicine; 03 medical and health sciences; Engineering; Segmentation; 0302 clinical medicine; 616; Technical Note; Precision Medicine; Cancer; Implant; 3. Good health; 3D Printing; Good Health and Well Being; Aneurysm repair; Biomedical Imaging; Radiological Society of North America; Biomedical engineering; Surgical Guide

Medical 3D printing holds the potential of transforming personalized medicine by enabling the fabrication of patient-specific implants, reimagining prostheses, developing surgical guides to expedite and transform surgical interventions, and enabling a growing multitude of specialized applications. In order to realize this tremendous potential in frontline medicine, an understanding of the basic principles of 3D printing by the medical professionals is required. This primer underlines the basic approaches and tools in 3D printing, starting from patient anatomy acquired through cross-sectional imaging, in this case Computed Tomography (CT). We describe the basic principles using the relatively simple task of separation of the relevant anatomy to guide aneurysm repair. This is followed by exploration of more advanced techniques in the creation of patient-specific surgical guides and prostheses for a patient with extensive pleomorphic sarcoma using Computer Aided Design (CAD) software.