Abstract:

Introduction: development of software and hardware capabilities of modern computing systems has enabled three-dimensional (3D) modeling and 3D printing technology (medical prototyping) to become available for a wide range of healthcare specialists. Commercial software used for this purpose remains unavailable to private physicians and small institutions due to the high cost. However, there are freeware applications and affordable 3D printers that can also be used to create medical prototypes.

Aim: was to describe stages of creating of physical 3D models based on medical imaging data and to highlight main features of specialized software and to make an overview of main types of 3D printing used in medicine.

Material and methods: article describes process of creation of medical prototype, that can be divided on three main stages: 1) acquisition of medical imaging, obtained by ‘volumetric’ scanning methods (computed tomography (CT), magnetic-resonance imaging (MRI), 3D ultrasound (3D US)); 2) virtual 3D model making (on the basis of visualisation data) by segmentation, polygonal mesh extraction and correction; 3) 3D printing of virtual model by the chosen method of additive manufacturing, with or without post-processing.

Conclusion: medical prototypes with sufficient precision and physical properties are necessary for understanding of anatomical structure and surgical crew training and can be made with use of freely available software and inexpensive 3D printers.

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