A study on 3D liver model fabricated by 3D printer from X-ray CT images for assistance of liver cancer surgery

Abstract

In liver cancer surgery, it is crucial to understand the internal structure of the liver, such as the position of tumors, blood vessels and their relationship. 3-dimensional rendering based on pre-operative CT volumes is one of methods for assisting a surgeon to understand such information. However, it is still not enough to achieve intuitive understanding. To solve such problems, this paper demonstrates a method to fabricate 3D liver model from patient-specific CT volumes. This model reconstructs internal structures of the liver to enable intuitive understanding of anatomical structure. Figure shows an example of the 3D liver model and a scene of 3D liver model utilization in OR.