Ali Arafat, Wahab Rifat, Huynh Jimmy, Wake Nicole, Mahoney Mary
Department of Radiology, University of Cincinnati Medical Center, 234 Goodman Street, Cincinnati, OH, 45267, USA.
Department of Radiology, Montefiore Medical Center, 111 East 210th Street, Bronx, NY, 10467, USA.
3D Print Med. 2020 Feb 18;6(1):4. doi: 10.1186/s41205-020-00058-5.
Breast cancer is the most commonly diagnosed malignancy in females and frequently requires core needle biopsy (CNB) to guide management. Adequate training resources for CNB suffer tremendous limitations in reusability, accurate simulation of breast tissue, and cost. The relatively recent advent of 3D printing offers an alternative for the development of breast phantoms for training purposes. However, the feasibility of this technology for the purpose of ultrasound (US) guided breast intervention has not been thoroughly studied.
We designed three breast phantom models that were printed in multiple resins available through Stratasys, including VeroClear, TangoPlus and Tissue Matrix. We also constructed several traditional breast phantoms using chicken breast and Knox gelatin for comparison. These phantoms were compared side-by-side for ultrasound penetrance, simulation of breast tissue integrity, anatomic accuracy, reusability, and cost.
3D printed breast phantoms were more anatomically accurate models than traditional breast phantoms. The chicken breast phantom provided acceptable US beam penetration and material hardness for simulation of human breast tissue integrity. Sonographic image quality of the chicken breast phantom was the most accurate overall. The gelatin-based phantom also had acceptable US beam penetration and image quality; however, this material was too soft and poorly simulated breast tissue integrity. 3D printed phantoms were not visible under US.
There is a large unmet need for a printable material that is truly compatible with multimodality imaging for breast and other soft tissue intervention. Further research is warranted to create a realistic, reusable and affordable material to 3D print phantoms for US-guided intervention training.
乳腺癌是女性中最常被诊断出的恶性肿瘤，通常需要进行粗针活检（CNB）来指导治疗。用于CNB的充足培训资源在可重复使用性、对乳腺组织的精确模拟以及成本方面存在巨大限制。3D打印技术的相对近期出现为开发用于培训目的的乳腺模型提供了一种替代方案。然而，该技术用于超声（US）引导下乳腺介入的可行性尚未得到充分研究。
我们设计了三种乳腺模型，使用Stratasys提供的多种树脂进行打印，包括VeroClear、TangoPlus和组织基质。我们还使用鸡胸肉和诺克斯明胶构建了几个传统乳腺模型进行比较。这些模型在超声穿透性、乳腺组织完整性模拟、解剖准确性、可重复使用性和成本方面进行了并排比较。
3D打印的乳腺模型在解剖学上比传统乳腺模型更精确。鸡胸模型为模拟人体乳腺组织完整性提供了可接受的超声束穿透性和材料硬度。鸡胸模型的超声图像质量总体上最准确。基于明胶的模型也具有可接受的超声束穿透性和图像质量；然而，这种材料太软，对乳腺组织完整性的模拟不佳。3D打印的模型在超声下不可见。
对于一种真正与乳腺及其他软组织介入的多模态成像兼容的可打印材料，存在巨大的未满足需求。有必要进一步研究，以创建一种逼真、可重复使用且价格合理的材料，用于3D打印超声引导介入培训的模型。
