The feasibility of 3D printing aortic root model by three dimensional transesophageal echocardiography data: a preliminary study compared with CT / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To preliminary explore the feasibility of three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3D-TEE) as images data source for 3D printing model by comparing the 3D-TEE with CT of the aortic root Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine(DICOM) data into 3D printing models respectively.@*Methods@#Fifteen patients who underwent surgical aortic valve replacement in the hospital were enrolled, and the aortic root 3D-TEE and CT DICOM data were obtained in perioperative. The images were imported into Mimics software to generate digital model standard tessellation language file, and to print the aortic root models by 3D printer. The structural morphology of both 3D-TEE and CT models were qualitatively evaluated respectively. The aortic annular area, perimeter, maximal diameter and minimal diameter of the original data, digital model, model and aortic valve replacement were quantitatively evaluated, and the consistency of each parameter value were analyzed. The mean diameter of 3D-TEE and CT model were calculated. The correlation of mean diameter with the number of replacement was analyzed.@*Results@#①Both 3D-TEE and CT images data were successfully printed into 3D models, and the positive rate of aortic valve structure were 93.3% (14/15) and 80.0% (12/15) respectively. ②The measured values of the aortic annular 3D-TEE and digital model were smaller than CT, CTdigital model and replacement (P<0.05), and the measurement consistency among groups was high. ③The parameter values of 3D-TEE model were smaller than CT model (P<0.05), and the measured values were all within the consistency range. The mean diameters were highly correlated with the replacement values (r>0.95, P<0.05).@*Conclusions@#3D printing aortic root model based on 3D-TEE image data is of high feasibility.