Experience in Using Additive Manufacturing of Cerebral Aneurysms as a 3D Assistant Tool in Surgical Planning

HIGHLIGHTS

• The use of 3D models in medicine brings several advantages in the medical field.

• AM is useful for the patient's understanding of the disease.

• AM is a fast and low-cost option to produce patient-specific AI models that can be used for surgical planning.

Abstract

Additive manufacturing (AM) is being increasingly disseminated in several areas of knowledge. In medicine, the use of 3D models arrived to facilitate diagnoses, assist in the assessment of pathological changes, in the training of new professionals, and patient-specific anatomical 3D visualization. This study aimed to perform a rapid and low-cost additive manufacturing of patient-specific intracranial aneurysms to facilitate anatomical visualization of the aneurysms. For this purpose, patient-specific models were manufactured in an FDM 3D printer from DICOM images of CT angiography or digital subtraction angiography. We obtained 15 models of intracranial aneurysms, with different sizes and geometries, which were used by neurosurgeons as part of the surgical planning of each case. AM is a quick and low-cost option to produce patient-specific AI models; however, further studies are still required to improve the technique.

Keywords:
3D Printing; Intracranial Aneurysm; Neurosurgery.