Abstract
Surgical simulators are used in practice and rehearsal for intravascular neurosurgery and for development of new medical instruments. We have developed three-dimensional elastic membranous blood vessel models by using ink-jet rapid prototyping. The diameter of the blood vessels is bigger than 500pm. Then, we have developed φ10-500μm arteriole and capillary vessel models with circular cross-section by photolithography. We connected these different models to realize circulation type blood vessel models simulating arteriole network. We tried two connecting methods. One is the direct connecting and the other is the indirect connecting using intermediate connector models. By the first method, we directly inserted previous wax models in the microchannels of network models. We fixed and dip-coated with silicone resin, then dissolved wax, and made circulation models. By the second method, we indirectly connected these models by using connector models made of wax, and made circulation models. We succeeded in making circulation models by both methods.
