Minireviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2019. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Jul 27, 2019; 11(7): 574-585
Published online Jul 27, 2019. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v11.i7.574
Role of innovative 3D printing models in the management of hepatobiliary malignancies
Peter Bangeas, Vassilios Tsioukas, Vasileios N Papadopoulos, Georgios Tsoulfas
Peter Bangeas, Vasileios N Papadopoulos, Georgios Tsoulfas, Department of Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece
Vassilios Tsioukas, Department of School of Rural and Surveying Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece
Author contributions: Bangeas P and Tsoulfas G contributed equally to this work, designed the aim of the study, and wrote the manuscript; Tsioukas V and Papadopoulos VN generated the figures and wrote the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have nothing to disclosure.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Georgios Tsoulfas, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Surgery, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 66 Tsimiski Street, Thessaloniki 54124, Greece. tsoulfasg@auth.gr
Telephone: +30-231-3323000 Fax: +30-231-3323000
Received: February 3, 2019
Peer-review started: February 11, 2019
First decision: April 11, 2019
Revised: June 12, 2019
Accepted: June 27, 2019
Article in press: June 27, 2019
Published online: July 27, 2019
Processing time: 173 Days and 21.8 Hours
Abstract

Three-dimensional (3D) printing has recently emerged as a new technique in various liver-related surgical fields. There are currently only a few systematic reviews that summarize the evidence of its impact. In order to construct a systematic literature review of the applications and effects of 3D printing in liver surgery, we searched the PubMed, Embase and ScienceDirect databases for relevant titles, according to the PRISMA statement guidelines. We retrieved 162 titles, of which 32 met the inclusion criteria and are reported. The leading application of 3D printing in liver surgery is for preoperative planning. 3D printing techniques seem to be beneficial for preoperative planning and educational tools, despite their cost and time requirements, but this conclusion must be confirmed by additional randomized controlled trials.

Keywords: Three-dimensional printing; Three-dimensional models; Liver; Surgery; Hepatic phantom models

Core tip: Three-dimensional printing is an emerging technology that seems to have useful applications in various medical fields. The most thoroughly studied applications are in medical education and preoperative planning. However, the financial and time requirements for its use remain issues to be resolved. In this Minireview, we analyze the uses of three-dimensional printing models which are reported in the literature, with special emphasis on their role in surgical education in hepatic surgery.