Research Institute, Medical University of Varna, Bulgaria.
Morphé, Praxitelous 1, Thessaloniki, Greece.
Phys Med Biol. 2022 Jul 27;67(15). doi: 10.1088/1361-6560/ac80e7.
Three dimensional (3D) printing technology has been widely evaluated for the fabrication of various anthropomorphic phantoms during the last couple of decades. The demand for such high quality phantoms is constantly rising and gaining an ever-increasing interest. Although, in a short time 3D printing technology provided phantoms with more realistic features when compared to the previous conventional methods, there are still several aspects to be explored. One of these aspects is the further development of the current 3D printing methods and software devoted to radiological applications. The current 3D printing software and methods usually employ 3D models, while the direct association of medical images with the 3D printing process is needed in order to provide results of higher accuracy and closer to the actual tissues' texture. Another aspect of high importance is the development of suitable printing materials. Ideally, those materials should be able to emulate the entire range of soft and bone tissues, while still matching the human's anatomy. Five types of 3D printing methods have been mainly investigated so far: (a) solidification of photo-curing materials; (b) deposition of melted plastic materials; (c) printing paper-based phantoms with radiopaque ink; (d) melting or binding plastic powder; and (e) bio-printing. From the first and second category, polymer jetting technology and fused filament fabrication (FFF), also known as fused deposition modelling (FDM), are the most promising technologies for the fulfilment of the requirements of realistic and radiologically equivalent anthropomorphic phantoms. Another interesting approach is the fabrication of radiopaque paper-based phantoms using inkjet printers. Although, this may provide phantoms of high accuracy, the utilized materials during the fabrication process are restricted to inks doped with various contrast materials. A similar condition applies to the polymer jetting technology, which despite being quite fast and very accurate, the utilized materials are restricted to those capable of polymerization. The situation is better for FFF/FDM 3D printers, since various compositions of plastic filaments with external substances can be produced conveniently. Although, the speed and accuracy of this 3D printing method are lower compared to the others, the relatively low-cost, constantly improving resolution, sufficient printing volume and plethora of materials are quite promising for the creation of human size heterogeneous phantoms and their adaptation to the treatment procedures of patients in the current health systems.
在过去的几十年中，三维（3D）打印技术已广泛用于制造各种拟人化体模。对高质量体模的需求不断增加，并且越来越受到关注。尽管在短时间内，3D 打印技术提供的体模与以前的传统方法相比具有更逼真的特征，但仍有几个方面需要探索。其中之一是进一步开发当前用于放射应用的 3D 打印方法和软件。当前的 3D 打印软件和方法通常使用 3D 模型，而需要将医学图像与 3D 打印过程直接关联，以提供更准确和更接近实际组织纹理的结果。另一个非常重要的方面是开发合适的打印材料。理想情况下，这些材料应该能够模拟所有类型的软组织和骨组织，同时仍与人体解剖结构相匹配。迄今为止，主要研究了以下五种 3D 打印方法：（a）光固化材料的凝固；（b）熔融塑料材料的沉积；（c）使用放射线不透光墨水打印纸基体模；（d）熔融或结合塑料粉末；和（e）生物打印。从第一类和第二类中，聚合物喷射技术和熔融沉积成型（FFF），也称为熔融挤出成型（FDM），是最有前途的技术，可以满足逼真且放射等效的拟人化体模的要求。另一种有趣的方法是使用喷墨打印机制造放射线不透光的纸基体模。尽管这可以提供高精度的体模，但是在制造过程中使用的材料仅限于用各种对比材料掺杂的墨水。聚合物喷射技术也存在类似的情况，尽管它速度很快，非常精确，但所用的材料仅限于能够聚合的材料。FFF/FDM 3D 打印机的情况要好一些，因为可以方便地生产带有外部物质的各种塑料丝的组合。尽管这种 3D 打印方法的速度和准确性低于其他方法，但相对较低的成本，不断提高的分辨率，足够的打印量和大量的材料对于创建人类大小的异质体模及其适应当前医疗系统中患者的治疗程序非常有前途。
