ObjectiveTo analyze the application effects of artificial intelligence (AI) software and Mimics software in preoperative three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction for thoracoscopic anatomical pulmonary segmentectomy. MethodsA retrospective analysis was conducted on patients who underwent thoracoscopic pulmonary segmentectomy at the Second People's Hospital of Huai'an from October 2019 to March 2024. Patients who underwent AI 3D reconstruction were included in the AI group, those who underwent Mimics 3D reconstruction were included in the Mimics group, and those who did not undergo 3D reconstruction were included in the control group. Perioperative related indicators of each group were compared. ResultsA total of 168 patients were included, including 73 males and 95 females, aged 25-81 (61.61±10.55) years. There were 79 patients in the AI group, 53 patients in the Mimics group, and 36 patients in the control group. There were no statistical differences in gender, age, smoking history, nodule size, number of lymph node dissection groups, postoperative pathological results, or postoperative complications among the three groups (P>0.05). There were statistical differences in operation time (P<0.001), extubation time (P<0.001), drainage volume (P<0.001), bleeding volume (P<0.001), and postoperative hospital stay (P=0.001) among the three groups. There were no statistical differences in operation time, extubation time, bleeding volume, or postoperative hospital stay between the AI group and the Mimics group (P>0.05). There was no statistical difference in drainage volume between the AI group and the control group (P=0.494), while there were statistical differences in operation time, drainage tube retention time, bleeding volume, and postoperative hospital stay (P<0.05). ConclusionFor patients requiring thoracoscopic anatomical pulmonary segmentectomy, preoperative 3D reconstruction and preoperative planning based on 3D images can shorten the operation time, postoperative extubation time and hospital stay, and reduce intraoperative bleeding and postoperative drainage volume compared with reading CT images only. The use of AI software for 3D reconstruction is not inferior to Mimics manual 3D reconstruction in terms of surgical guidance and postoperative recovery, which can reduce the workload of clinicians and is worth promoting.
Objective To design a new type of three-dimensional honeycomb guide for percutaneous cannulated screw placement in femoral neck fracture and evaluate its effectiveness. Methods The clinical data of 40 patients with femoral neck fracture who met the selection criteria between June 2019 and December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed. According to different intraoperative positioning methods, they were divided into control group (20 cases, free hand positioning screws) and study group (20 cases, new guide assisted positioning screws). There was no significant difference in gender, age, side, cause of injury, Garden classification, and time from injury to operation between the two groups (P>0.05). The operation time, fluoroscopy times, guide needle puncture times, and fracture healing time of the two groups were recorded. The hip function was evaluated by Harris score at last follow-up. At immediate after operation, the following imaging indexes were used to evaluate the accuracy of screw implantation distribution: screw spacing, screw coverage area, distance from screw to cervical cortex, parallelism between screws, and screw to cervical axial deviation. Results All operations were successfully completed, and the guide needle did not penetrate the femoral neck cortex. There was no significant difference in operation time and fluoroscopy times between the two groups (P>0.05); the guide needle puncture times in the study group was significantly less than that in the control group (t=8.209, P=0.000). Imaging detection at immediate after operation showed that the screw spacing and screw coverage area in the study group were significantly greater than those in the control group (P<0.05); the distance from screw to cervical cortex, parallelism between screws, and screw to cervical axial deviation were significantly smaller than those in the control group (P<0.05). All patients were followed up 7-25 months, with an average of 19.3 months. There was no significant difference in follow-up time between the two groups (t=−0.349, P=0.729). There were 2 cases of fracture nonunion in the control group and 1 case in the study group, and the other fractures completely healed. One case of osteonecrosis of the femoral head occurred in the control group. During the follow-up, there was no complication such as vascular and nerve injury, venous thrombosis, screw penetration, withdrawal, breakage, and refracture, etc. There was no significant difference in fracture healing time and Harris score at last follow-up between the two groups (P>0.05). ConclusionThe new three-dimensional honeycomb guide has the advantages of simple structure and convenient use. It can reduce the puncture times of the guide needle and effectively improve the accuracy distribution of cannulated screw implantation.
In this article, we introduce the principle, describe the utilization and discuss the future development of three-dimensional printing technology for manufacturing artificial organs.
ObjectiveTo compare the three-dimensional (3D) laparoscopic simulator with two-dimensional (2D) laparoscopic simulator in training of laparoscopic novices.MethodsBetween January 2018 and December 2019, surgical residents from Chinese PLA General Hospital were enrolled, which were grouped into 3D and 2D group. After receiving training program, novices in both two groups subject to performance examination, including bean-picking module, exchange module, transfer module, needle-manipulating module, and suture module. Times and errors were compared between the two groups for each module.ResultsA total of 16 novices in 3D group and 15 novices in 2D group were enrolled, and baseline characteristics including age, gender, major hand, glass wearing, laparoscopic experience, and shooting game experience were well balanced between the two groups (P>0.05). There were comparable times and errors between the two groups in terms of bean-picking module and exchange module (P>0.05). The time of transfer module and needle-manipulating module was not significant between the two groups (P>0.05), but novices in 3D group performed more precise than those in 2D group (P<0.05). In suture module, 3D group had shorter time (P=0.02) and higher accuracy (P=0.03).Conclusion3D laparoscopic simulator can shorten novice performance time in complex procedures, improve accuracy, and facilitate laparoscopic training.
ObjectiveTo explore the application value of multidisciplinary collaborative team (MDT) model in retroperitoneal tumors involving large vessels.MethodsThree cases of retroperitoneal tumors involving great vessels admitted to Xiang’an Hospital of Xiamen University in 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. With the support of 3D visual reconstruction and virtual reality (VR) technology, we performed MDT discussion and three cases received treatment of surgery, intervention, and targeted therapy.ResultsCase 1 was discussed by MDT and concluded that, based on CT examination, 3D reconstruction, and VR virtual image results, the tumor on the right side was determined to be completely resectable. The left tumor was judged to be unresectable, and the proposed treatment plan was right metastatic tumor resection + left metastatic tumor radiofrequency ablation. After surgery case 1 had been followed up for 6 months. The symptoms of diarrhea were significantly improved. CT reexamination showed that liver lesions and left retroperitoneal lesions were the same size and the condition was stable. After discussion by MDT, radiofrequency ablation around the tumor was proposed for case 2. This case was followed up for 3 months after surgery, and CT reexamination showed no new lesion in retroperitoneum. After MDT discussion, we concluded that arteriovenous fistula of case 3 had no indications for surgery, and proposed interventional combined with targeted therapy. After treatment, the tumor was found to be smaller after reexamination in 8 months than before treatment, and the efficacy was evaluated as partial remission. The follow-up was continued.ConclusionThe future development trend of retroperitoneal tumor therapy involving great vessels is to evaluate each patient’s condition under the MDT mode by using 3D visual reconstruction and VR technology, and to formulate the individualized treatment plan of operation combined with other treatments.
In this paper, a new method for the classification of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) using multi-feature combination of structural magnetic resonance imaging is proposed. Firstly, hippocampal segmentation and cortical thickness and volume measurement were performed using FreeSurfer software. Then, histogram, gradient, length of gray level co-occurrence matrix and run-length matrix were used to extract the three-dimensional (3D) texture features of the hippocampus, and the parameters with significant differences between AD, MCI and NC groups were selected for correlation study with MMSE score. Finally, AD, MCI and NC are classified and identified by the extreme learning machine. The results show that texture features can provide better classification results than volume features on both left and right sides. The feature parameters with complementary texture, volume and cortical thickness had higher classification recognition rate, and the classification accuracy of the right side (100%) was higher than that of the left side (91.667%). The results showed that 3D texture analysis could reflect the pathological changes of hippocampal structures of AD and MCI patients, and combined with multi-feature analysis, it could better reflect the essential differences between AD and MCI cognitive impairment, which was more conducive to clinical differential diagnosis.
ObjectiveTo explore the effectiveness of a new point contact pedicle navigation template (referred to as “new navigation template” for simplicity) in assisting screw implantation in scoliosis correction surgery. MethodsTwenty-five patients with scoliosis, who met the selection criteria between February 2020 and February 2023, were selected as the trial group. During the scoliosis correction surgery, the three-dimensional printed new navigation template was used to assist in screw implantation. Fifty patients who had undergone screw implantation with traditional free-hand implantation technique between February 2019 and February 2023 were matched according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria as the control group. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05) in terms of gender, age, disease duration, Cobb angle on the coronal plane of the main curve, Cobb angle at the Bending position of the main curve, the position of the apical vertebrae of the main curve, and the number of vertebrae with the pedicle diameter lower than 50%/75% of the national average, and the number of patients whose apical vertebrae rotation exceeded 40°. The number of fused vertebrae, the number of pedicle screws, the time of pedicle screw implantation, implant bleeding, fluoroscopy frequency, and manual diversion frequency were compared between the two groups. The occurrence of implant complications was observed. Based on the X-ray films at 2 weeks after operation, the pedicle screw grading was recorded, the accuracy of the implant and the main curvature correction rate were calculated. ResultsBoth groups successfully completed the surgeries. Among them, the trial group implanted 267 screws and fused 177 vertebrae; the control group implanted 523 screws and fused 358 vertebrae. There was no significant difference between the two groups (P>0.05) in terms of the number of fused vertebrae, the number of pedicle screws, the pedicle screw grading and accuracy, and the main curvature correction rate. However, the time of pedicle screw implantation, implant bleeding, fluoroscopy frequency, and manual diversion frequency were significantly lower in trial group than in control group (P<0.05). There was no complications related to screws implantation during or after operation in the two groups. ConclusionThe new navigation template is suitable for all kinds of deformed vertebral lamina and articular process, which not only improves the accuracy of screw implantation, but also reduces the difficulty of operation, shortens the operation time, and reduces intraoperative bleeding.
Three-dimensional (3D) bio-printing is a novel engineering technique by which the cells and support materials can be manufactured to a complex 3D structure. Compared with other 3D printing methods, 3D bio-printing should pay more attention to the biocompatible environment of the printing methods and the materials. Aimed at studying the feature of the 3D bio-printing, this paper mainly focuses on the current research state of 3D bio-printing, with the techniques and materials of the bio-printing especially emphasized. To introduce current printing methods, the inkjet method, extrusion method, stereolithography skill and laser-assisted technique are described. The printing precision, process, requirements and influence of all the techniques on cell status are compared. For introduction of the printing materials, the cross-link, biocompatibility and applications of common bio-printing materials are reviewed and compared. Most of the 3D bio-printing studies are being remained at the experimental stage up to now, so the review of 3D bio-printing could improve this technique for practical use, and it could also contribute to the further development of 3D bio-printing.
Objective To review the research progress of in-situ three dimensional (3D) bio-printing technology in the repair of bone and cartilage injuries. Methods Literature on the application of in-situ 3D bio-printing technology to repair bone and cartilage injuries at home and abroad in recent years was reviewed, analyzed, and summarized. Results As a new tissue engineering technology, in-situ 3D bio-printing technology is mainly applied to repair bone, cartilage, and skin tissue injuries. By combining biomaterials, bioactive substances, and cells, tissue is printed directly at the site of injury or defect. At present, the research on the technology mainly focuses on printing mode, bio-ink, and printing technology; the application research in the field of bone and cartilage mainly focuses on pre-vascularization, adjusting the composition of bio-ink, improving scaffold structure, printing technology, loading drugs, cells, and bioactive factors, so as to promote tissue injury repair. Conclusion Multiple animal experiments have confirmed that in-situ 3D bio-printing technology can construct bone and cartilage tissue grafts in a real-time, rapid, and minimally invasive manner. In the future, it is necessary to continue to develop bio-inks suitable for specific tissue grafts, as well as combine with robotics, fusion imaging, and computer-aided medicine to improve printing efficiency.
ObjectiveTo investigate feasibility and safety of laparoscopic liver resection with vascular variation.MethodsThe clinical data of one patient with preoperative diagnosis of primary liver cancer, who was admitted into the Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Army Military University in October 2017, were analyzed retrospectively. The three-dimensional (3D) reconstruction was completed basing on the preoperative CT data, then the liver volume was calculated and the preoperative planning was made, finally the subsequent surgery was performed.ResultsThe results of the 3D reconstruction suggested that the tumor was situated in the central of the right liver, including the segment Ⅴ, Ⅵ, Ⅶ, and Ⅷ. There was a type Ⅱ portal vein variation, the right anterior branch of the portal vein divided a branch into the left medial lobe. The right hepatic vein was divided into the ventral and dorsal branches. There was a thick right posterior inferior vein in this case. The preoperative planning was that the right posterior lobectomy or right anterior lobectomy could not completely remove the tumor. According to the standard right hemihepatectomy, the remaining liver volume accounted for 27% of the standard liver volume. If preserving the right anterior branch of the portal vein for the right hemihepatectomy, the remaining liver volume accounted for 41% of the standard liver volume. According to the concept of precise hepatectomy, the laparoscopic partial right hepatectomy with preservation of the main branch of the right anterior portal vein was performed smoothly. The liver function recovered well after the surgery. The right pleural effusion appeared after the surgery, then was relieved by the thoracentesis.ConclusionFor primary liver cancer patient with vascular variation, laparoscopic liver resection is feasible and safe basing on guide of 3D reconstruction technology.