Three-Dimensional Printing Applications in Thoracic Surgery

Abstract

Advances in technology allowing the combination of medical imaging and three-dimensional printing have greatly benefitted thoracic surgery, allowing for the creation of complex prostheses. Surgical education is also a significant application of three-dimensional printing, especially for the development of simulation-based training models. Aiming to show how three-dimensional printing can benefit patients and clinicians in thoracic surgery, an optimized method to create patient-specific chest wall prosthesis using three-dimensional printing was developed and clinically validated. An artificial chest simulator for surgical training was also developed, replicating the human anatomy with high realism and accurately simulating a minimally invasive lobectomy.

Keywords: 3D printing; Chest-wall reconstruction; Lobectomy; Patient-specific prosthesis; Simulator; Surgical training.