Multi-dimensional printing in thoracic surgery: current and future applications

Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has been gaining much attention in the medical field in recent years. At present, 3D printing most commonly contributes in pre-operative surgical planning of complicated surgery. It is also utilized for producing personalized prosthesis, well demonstrated by the customized rib cage, vertebral body models and customized airway splints. With on-going research and development, it will likely play an increasingly important role across the surgical fields. This article reviews current application of 3D printing in thoracic surgery and also provides a brief overview on the extended and updated use of 3D printing in bioprinting and 4D printing.

Keywords: Three-dimensional (3D) printing; bioprinting; four dimensional (4D) printing; multi-dimensional printing; thoracic surgery.

Figure 1

A young patient with right chest chondrosarcoma requiring surgical resection. (A) Model of the 3D printed chest wall chondrosarcoma with multiple vertebrae and ribs involvement placed beside the intraoperative resected specimen. The 3D model allowed our thoracic and orthopaedic surgeons to better plan the resection and reconstruction procedure in advance; (B) early postoperative chest radiograph of the reconstructed titanium vertebrae and chest wall. 3D, three-dimensional; R, right; SUP, supine.

Figure 2

A patient with complex tracheal stenosis. (A) Segmentation of computed tomography data of a patient with complex tracheal stenosis (trachea—grey; cricoid—yellow; neck great vessels—pink) requiring a tailor made self-expanding nitinol stent (Micro-Tech, Nanjing, China). The thin long red arrow indicates the area of stenosis; the small blue, yellow and red arrows show the X, Y and Z axis during computer reconstruction; (B) two identical stents were made, one used for rehearsal of stent insertion and deployment on patient’s 3D printed trachea; (C) and the final expected result of the stenting can be appreciated from the 3D model. 3D, three-dimensional.