Tech & Innovation in Healthcare

Researchers 3D print a tumor using the patient’s glioblastoma cells.

The prevalence of 3D printing, invented nearly 40 years ago, has exploded in popularity during the last decade — and medicine has taken notice. Doctors, researchers, and scientists are using 3D models to plan, practice, and prepare for complicated surgeries. You’ll also see 3D printing utilized for innovative disease therapies.

Read on to learn more about how 3D printing is improving both condition education and patient outcomes.

Explain Complex Procedures with a 3D-Printed Model

Radiology practices, oncology practices, surgical centers, and other specialties can benefit greatly by having accurate 3D anatomic models at the ready.

First of all, these models allow doctors to see exactly what is happening inside the patient’s body without having to use computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or X-ray image guidance during invasive procedures.

Taking existing CT and MRI scans of the patient’s body, doctors can print precise 3D replicas of the patient’s body structures, including any abnormalities. Physicians can then practice new, rare, or complex surgeries with the 3D models in hand. At the Mayo Clinic, radiologists use state-of-the-art software to create a virtual model of the patient’s body structures with color-coded tissues. After the virtual model is prepared, “one or more printer technologies are used to print, layer by layer, a life-size 3D model of the patients' anatomy” (URL: www.mayoclinic.org/departments-centers/anatomic-modeling-laboratories/overview/ovc-20473121). The lifelike, three-dimensional anatomic model allows physicians to familiarize themselves with any “anatomic anomalies or additional information” that could alter their surgical procedure.

Patients can directly benefit from these models, too. The models provide a clear look at the body structures, so a patient and their loved ones can understand the severity of their condition or the complexity of a proposed procedure.

For example, a patient diagnosed with stage III lung cancer has a tumor in their left lung, but the tumor is pressing on the bronchus, which is causing their shortness of breath and wheezing. Due to the proximity of the neoplasm to other vital organs, the oncologist is hesitant to operate. If the physician has a custom 3D-printed model of the patient’s esophagus, bronchus, lung, tumor, and other structures, they can explain to the patient and their loved ones why surgery isn’t a viable option. At the same time, a 3D-printed model will provide a visual reference, so if the doctor delivers an explanation using complicated medical terms, the patient and their loved ones can see a color-coded anatomic model and comprehend the complexity of the situation.

Construct Cancer Treatments with 3D-Printed Tumors

More than simply using these models as a visualization tool, some physicians can use these models for mock surgeries. The models let physicians pinpoint possible problem areas and customize the surgical approach.

For instance, in an article published in February 2021, researchers explored how 3D printing could affect several current applications of breast cancer management, including breast-conserving surgery (BCS) and tumor localization (URL: threedmedprint.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s41205-021-00095-8).

A surgical approach to breast cancer treatment usually involves BCS or mastectomy. If the physician opts to perform BCS with radiation therapy, the treatment plan shows to provide “similar survival rates, acceptable rates of local recurrence, and better cosmetic outcomes.” Furthermore, a negative margin status for patients undergoing BCS helps reduce the risk of local recurrence and improves relapse-free survival.

Surgeons can excise nonpalpable breast lesions using guidance from wire needle localization and non-wire localization, but these methods can be imprecise and may require re-excision to remove all of the tumor and its remains. By using 3D-printed models along with wire needle and non-wire localization, physicians can plan the surgery accurately by having a physical depiction of the patient’s breast and abnormality. Plus, the 3D-printed model offers exceptional detail regarding the tumor’s location in relation to muscle, overlying skin, and more. This tool used in conjunction with BCS and tumor localization was shown to result in negative surgical margins.

Develop Glioblastoma Treatment Responses Using Bioprintings

Beyond using 3d-printed models, medical researchers are going the next step to “bioprint” medical conditions.

In August 2021, Tel Aviv University researchers used a patient’s brain cancer cells to craft a model of their tumor using 3D bioprinting. By using a 3D-bioprinted model of the patient’s own glioblastoma (GB), the researchers aimed to show that the bioprinted model delivered a “more accurate evaluation of the native molecular and cellular characteristics of GB establishment and progression and the response to therapies compared to 2D plasticware models” (URL: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abi9119). The 3D models offer a more clinically accurate platform for research and drug discovery.

Once the 3D-printed tumor is constructed, the researchers pumped the patient’s blood through the tumor and then followed the blood with a drug or therapeutic treatment. This lets the scientists see how the tumor tissue responds to the different therapies without the patient having the endure the effects of trial-and-error therapies.