title: Manufacture of patient-specific vascular replicas for endovascular simulation using fast, low-cost method.
abstract: Patient-specific vascular replicas are essential to the simulation of endovascular treatment or for vascular research. The inside of silicone replica is required to be smooth for manipulating interventional devices without resistance. In this report, we demonstrate the fabrication of patient-specific silicone vessels with a low-cost desktop 3D printer. We show that the surface of an acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) model printed by the 3D printer can be smoothed by a single dipping in ABS solvent in a time-dependent manner, where a short dip has less effect on the shape of the model. The vascular mold is coated with transparent silicone and then the ABS mold is dissolved after the silicone is cured. Interventional devices can pass through the inside of the smoothed silicone vessel with lower pushing force compared to the vessel without smoothing. The material cost and time required to fabricate the silicone vessel is about USD $2 and 24 h, which is much lower than the current fabrication methods. This fast and low-cost method offers the possibility of testing strategies before attempting particularly difficult cases, while improving the training of endovascular therapy, enabling the trialing of new devices, and broadening the scope of vascular research.
authors.affiliation: Jichi Medical University, Department of Neurosurgery, Shimotsuke, Japan.
authors.forename: Naoki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.affiliation: Jichi Medical University, Department of Neurosurgery, Shimotsuke, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshihiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mashiko
authors.affiliation: Tohoku University, Institute of Fluid Science, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Taihei
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Ohnishi
authors.affiliation: Tohoku University, Institute of Fluid Science, Sendai, Japan.
authors.forename: Makoto
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ohta
authors.affiliation: Jichi Medical University, Department of Endovascular Surgery, Shimotsuke, Japan.
authors.forename: Katsunari
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Namba
authors.affiliation: Jichi Medical University, Department of Neurosurgery, Shimotsuke, Japan.
authors.forename: Eiju
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.affiliation: Jichi Medical University, Department of Neurosurgery, Shimotsuke, Japan.
authors.forename: Kensuke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kawai
mesh_terms: D000181:Acrylonitrile / Q000737:chemistry; D001187:Artificial Organs / Q000191:economics*; D001808:Blood Vessels / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000737:chemistry; D017076:Computer-Aided Design; D006801:Humans; D008953:Models, Anatomic; D066330:Printing, Three-Dimensional; D012825:Silicon / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000181:Acrylonitrile; D012825:Silicon