NEW ORLEANS, LA USA (UroToday.com) - A large number of health care-related applications for 3D printing technology have emerged, and over the last few years, Dr. Silberstein and colleagues have led the charge in developing novel uses for 3D printing in the field of urologic oncology. Their work has helped develop 3D printed models of renal malignancies for use in pre-operative planning, patient counseling, and trainee education. In this presentation, they discussed the progress their team has made in this field and future directions for 3D printing in urology.
The authors discussed their methods for designing 3D CAD models using standard pre-operative axial CT images. Using patient-specific CT images, they are able to construct CAD files and 3D models with high fidelity to the patient anatomy. They showed several images demonstrating the congruity between 3D-printed models and actual patient anatomy. These models have been shown previously in their published work to be useful in counseling patients prior to surgery for renal tumors. In their recent study with medical students, they demonstrated that 3D-printed models of kidney tumors can help improve trainee understanding of renal anatomy and nephrolithometry score.
Possibly the most impressive work presented by the authors in this session was their use of 3D models in the simulation of robotic partial nephrectomy. The authors described their process of developing a novel multijet hydrogel kidney model that has physiologic-like texture, and they showed images of their team practicing partial nephrectomy resection of tumors on these models. So far the authors have used these practice models on 7 patients prior to actual robotic partial nephrectomy. While they have some early data to suggest that the use of 3D-printed renal models may improve surgical margins and OR time, more research is needed to demonstrate that 3D-printed models lead to better outcomes or lower complication rates in patients undergoing partial nephrectomy.
Presented by Jonathan Silberstein at the American Urological Association (AUA) Annual Meeting - May 15 - 19, 2015 - New Orleans, LA USA
Tulane University, New Orleans, LA USA
Reported by Kyle Spradling (University of California-Irvine), medical writer for UroToday.com