Introduction

An innovative fabrication process of morpho-functional organ models to be used in personalized medicine and advanced medical training. The method integrates 3D digital technologies and libraries of innovative materials that can recapitulate anatomical and haptic features of organs and tissues. The manufacturing of physical systems capable of reproducing the mechanical properties and morphological characteristics of organs and / or anatomical parts is of fundamental importance in the medical field for the planning of complex surgical interventions and for specialist training. 3D printing for the fabrication of organ models from digital models obtained from radiological images (CT and MRI) is currently the main solution, but remains substantially limited to the morphological reproduction of the structure, due to the lack of adequate materials suitable for reproduce the haptic and functional characteristics of organs and of sufficiently versatile manufacturing approaches.

Technical features

In the proposed invention, direct 3D printing is integrated with other types of fabrication by moulding, using anatomical libraries and tissue-equivalent polymer-based materials and thus ensuring the reproduction of the haptic response of the organ, speed of realisation, cost-effectiveness and metrological standards. .

Possible Applications

• Preoperative planning: improvement and optimization of surgery planning;
• Advanced training: teaching the architecture and relationship between surface morphology and internal structure of an organ;
• Imaging phantoms: production of metrologic phantoms for instruments calibration (CAT, MNR);
• Simulation: haptic models to test complex procedures like biopsies or robotic surgery.

Advantages

• Building models with optimized haptic features thanks to innovative materials compatible with tissues in organs or body parts;
• Reproducibility and standardization of the process, from radiologic imaging to 3D concrete model;
• Integration of multiple printing and fabrication technologies;
• Quantitative and qualitative validation of the model.