By Zhang Hao, Jiang Dehua, Wang Bo, Sun Fei, Ma Qingfang, Ding Maohua, Tang unimpeded, Chen Jie, Xuzhou City Central Hospital, Jiangsu Province.

The images of neurosurgery can be converted into data by 3D printing technology successfully, thus doctors can prepare the skull based tumor models, vascular models, etc, which can be applied in the clinical work of neurosurgery and has proved good effect.

Brain lesions like Nervous system tumor and vascular malformation have brought great difficulties and challenges for clinical treatment in neurosurgery, thus 3D printing technology is important for simulation and training in neurosurgery.

The following are 2 types of 3D printing applications in neurosurgical treatment.

Intracranial tumor is close to brain nerves and vessels due to the complexity of brain structure, therefore, the surgical treatment of intracranial tumors is extremely difficult and requires precise preoperative planning.

Mehbodniya et al 3D printed intracranial tumor model with different materials to simulate the skin, skull and brain tissue, moreover, to simulate the process of the operation.

Kosterhon et al. have shown that the use of 3D printing technology for preoperative evaluation is better to that performed by using conventional imaging alone. The 3D printed model can accurately simulate the anatomy of the tumor and the craniotomy before surgery.

According to the imaging data, the tumor, blood vessels and nerves around the tumor can be printed out in detail to help determine the resection range, which increases the accuracy and safety of the operation and improves the postoperative recovery effect of the patients.

With a high disability and mortality rate, cerebrovascular surgery is more risky and difficult than most of the neurosurgery surgery.

With complex structure of intracranial blood vessels, branches of cranial basar arteries, and variable traffic branches, doctors need to fully interpret the imaging data, which requires them to have strong spatial imagination and solid knowledge in anatomy.

As for intracranial ruptured aneurysms surgery，the surgical treatment is divided into craniotomy for aneurysm clipping and endovascular interventional embolization.

It is very important to fully understand the shape, orientation of the  aneurysm and the relationship between the aneurysm, the adjacent arteries, brain tissue and brain nerves before aneurysm clipping surgery.

Some scholars used to 3D print the aneurysm model to simulate the surgical process before the clip-closure surgery, which significantly reduced the intraoperative damage and shorten the surgical time.

3D printing can also be applied in the interventional treatment of aneurysms. Namba et al reported that using 3D printing to help with shaping microcatheter, they performed aneurysm embolization surgery for 10 patients and achieved good postoperative effect.

As for hypertensive intracerebral hemorrhage, it is difficult to precisely position the intraoperative hematoma beacause the site of intracranial hemorrhage will change easily.

Reference : Zhang Hao, Jiang Dehua, Wang Bo, Sun Fei, Ma Qingfang, Ding Maohua, Tang unimpeded, Chen Jie. Application of 3D printing technology in neurosurgery in clinical practice [J]. Chinese Drug and Clinical, 2021,21 (14): 2476-2477.

SoonSer helped the neurosurgery team of People's Hospital of Shaoxing City to complete a difficult minimally invasive surgery for high cervical schwannoma. 

Through the model 3D printed by SoonSer Mars Pro 600, the cervical nerve, blood vessel, tumor location and their relationship restored clearly, which helped the formulation of the surgical plan. Because of that, the patient and his families were much more confident in the surgery.

With the assistance of the preoperative simulation training, the doctors understood the position relationship between the tumor and the surrounding vertebral arteries, veins and cervical vertebra, effectively controlled the intraoperative bleeding, and minimized the wear of the vertebral.

Due to the minimized interference of the normal tissue around the tumor, the surgical time was greatly shortened, and the surgical risk was significantly reduced.

The success of the cervical schwannoma surgery has not only proved the importance of 3D printing technology in medical and surgery, but also provided great value for minimally invasive neurosurgery.