Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Jan;12(1):13-23.
doi: 10.1007/s11548-016-1461-9. Epub 2016 Aug 1.

The production of digital and printed resources from multiple modalities using visualization and three-dimensional printing techniques

Wuyang Shui  1 , Mingquan Zhou  1 , Shi Chen  2 , Zhouxian Pan  3 , Qingqiong Deng  1 , Yong Yao  4 , Hui Pan  5 , Taiping He  6 , Xingce Wang  1
Affiliations

The production of digital and printed resources from multiple modalities using visualization and three-dimensional printing techniques

Wuyang Shui et al. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2017 Jan.

Abstract

Purpose: Virtual digital resources and printed models have become indispensable tools for medical training and surgical planning. Nevertheless, printed models of soft tissue organs are still challenging to reproduce. This study adopts open source packages and a low-cost desktop 3D printer to convert multiple modalities of medical images to digital resources (volume rendering images and digital models) and lifelike printed models, which are useful to enhance our understanding of the geometric structure and complex spatial nature of anatomical organs.

Materials and methods: Neuroimaging technologies such as CT, CTA, MRI, and TOF-MRA collect serial medical images. The procedures for producing digital resources can be divided into volume rendering and medical image reconstruction. To verify the accuracy of reconstruction, this study presents qualitative and quantitative assessments. Subsequently, digital models are archived as stereolithography format files and imported to the bundled software of the 3D printer. The printed models are produced using polylactide filament materials.

Results: We have successfully converted multiple modalities of medical images to digital resources and printed models for both hard organs (cranial base and tooth) and soft tissue organs (brain, blood vessels of the brain, the heart chambers and vessel lumen, and pituitary tumor). Multiple digital resources and printed models were provided to illustrate the anatomical relationship between organs and complicated surrounding structures. Three-dimensional printing (3DP) is a powerful tool to produce lifelike and tangible models.

Conclusions: We present an available and cost-effective method for producing both digital resources and printed models. The choice of modality in medical images and the processing approach is important when reproducing soft tissue organs models. The accuracy of the printed model is determined by the quality of organ models and 3DP. With the ongoing improvement of printing techniques and the variety of materials available, 3DP will become an indispensable tool in medical training and surgical planning.

Keywords: 3D printing; Anatomical organs; Medical images; Medical reconstruction; Visualization.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2009 Mar;4(2):175-80 - PubMed
    1. J Med Eng Technol. 2008 Jan-Feb;32(1):83-90 - PubMed
    1. Med Educ. 2007 Jan;41(1):15-22 - PubMed
    1. Anat Sci Educ. 2014 Nov-Dec;7(6):479-86 - PubMed
    1. PLoS One. 2015 Apr 27;10 (4):e0124291 - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources