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Background: Pediatric airway models currently available for use in education or simulation do not replicate anatomy or tissue responses to procedures. Emphasis on mass production with sturdy but homogeneous materials and low-fidelity casting techniques diminishes these models' abilities to realistically represent the unique characteristics of the pediatric airway, particularly in the infant and younger age ranges. Newer fabrication technologies, including 3-dimensional (3D) printing and castable tissue-like silicones, open new approaches to the simulation of pediatric airways with greater anatomical fidelity and utility for procedure training., Methods: After ethics approval, available/archived computerized tomography data sets of patients under the age of 2 years were reviewed to identify those suitable for designing new models. A single 21-month-old subject was selected for 3D reconstruction. Manual thresholding was then performed to produce 3D models of selected regions and tissue types within the dataset, which were either directly 3D-printed or later cast in 3D-printed molds with a variety of tissue-like silicones. A series of testing mannequins derived using this multimodal approach were then further refined following direct clinician feedback to develop a series of pediatric airway model prototypes., Results: The initial prototype consisted of separate skeletal (skull, mandible, vertebrae) and soft-tissue (nasal mucosa, pharynx, larynx, gingivae, tongue, functional temporomandibular joint [TMJ] "sleeve," skin) modules. The first iterations of these modules were generated using both single-material and multimaterial 3D printing techniques to achieve the haptic properties of real human tissues. After direct clinical feedback, subsequent prototypes relied on a combination of 3D printing for osseous elements and casting of soft-tissue components from 3D-printed molds, which refined the haptic properties of the nasal, oropharyngeal, laryngeal, and airway tissues, and improved the range of movement required for airway management procedures. This approach of modification based on clinical feedback resulted in superior functional performance., Conclusions: Our hybrid manufacturing approach, merging 3D-printed components and 3D-printed molds for silicone casting, allows a more accurate representation of both the anatomy and functional characteristics of the pediatric airway for model production. Further, it allows for the direct translation of anatomy derived from real patient medical imaging into a functional airway management simulator, and our modular design allows for modification of individual elements to easily vary anatomical configurations, haptic qualities of components or exchange components to replicate pathology., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2020 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the International Anesthesia Research Society.)

The teaching of medical pathology has undergone significant change in the last 30-40 years, especially in the context of employing bottled specimens or 'pots' in classroom settings. The reduction in post-mortem based teaching in medical training programs has resulted in less focus being placed on the ability of students to describe the gross anatomical pathology of specimens. Financial considerations involved in employing staff to maintain bottled specimens, space constraints and concerns with health and safety of staff and student laboratories have meant that many institutions have decommissioned their pathology collections. This report details how full-colour surface scanning coupled with CT scanning and 3 D printing allows the digital archiving of gross pathological specimens and the production of reproductions or replicas of preserved human anatomical pathology specimens that obviates many of the above issues. With modern UV curable resin printing technology, it is possible to achieve photographic quality accurate replicas comparable to the original specimens in many aspects except haptic quality. Accurate 3 D reproductions of human pathology specimens offer many advantages over traditional bottled specimens including the capacity to generate multiple copies and their use in any educational setting giving access to a broader range of potential learners and users.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing, or additive manufacturing, is now a widely used tool in pre-operative planning, surgical teaching and simulator training. However, 3D printing technology that produces models with accurate haptic feedback, biomechanics and visuals for the training surgeon is not currently available. Challenges and opportunities in creating such surgical models will be discussed in this review paper. Surgery requires proper tissue handling as well as knowledge of relevant anatomy. To prepare doctors properly, training models need to take into account the biomechanical properties of the anatomical structures that will be manipulated in any given operation. This review summarises and evaluates the current biomechanical literature as it relates to human tissues and correlates the impact of this knowledge on developing high fidelity 3D printed surgical training models. We conclude that, currently, a printer technology has not yet been developed which can replicate many of the critical qualities of human tissue. Advances in 3D printing technology will be required to allow the printing of multi-material products to achieve the mechanical properties required., (© 2019 Anatomical Society.)

The practical aspect of human developmental biology education is often limited to the observation and use of animal models to illustrate developmental anatomy. This is due in part to the difficulty of accessing human embryonic and fetal specimens, and the sensitivity inherent to presenting these specimens as teaching materials. This report presents a new approach using three-dimensional (3D) printed replicas of actual human materials in practical classes, thus allowing for the inclusion of accurate examples of human developmental anatomy in the educational context. A series of 3D prints have been produced from digital data collected by computed tomography (CT) imaging of an archived series of preserved human embryonic and fetal specimens. The final versions of 3D prints have been generated in a range of single or multiple materials to illustrate the progression of human development, including the development of internal anatomy. Furthermore, multiple copies of each replica have been printed for large group teaching. In addition to the educational benefit of examining accurate 3D replicas, this approach lessens the potential for adverse student reaction (due to cultural background or personal experience) to observing actual human embryonic/fetal anatomical specimens, and reduces the potential of damage or loss of original specimens. This approach, in combination with ongoing improvements in the management and analysis of digital data and advances in scanning technology, has enormous potential to allow embryology students access to both local and international collections of human gestational material. Anat Sci Educ 00: 000-000. © 2018 American Association of Anatomists., (© 2018 American Association of Anatomists.)

Objectives: Rapid prototyping (RP) technology is becoming more affordable, faster, and is now capable of building models with a high resolution and accuracy. Due to technological limitations, 3D printing in biological anthropology has been mostly limited to museum displays and forensic reconstructions. In this study, we compared the accuracy of different 3D printers to establish whether RP can be used effectively to reproduce anthropological dental collections, potentially replacing access to oftentimes fragile and irreplaceable original material., Methods: We digitized specimens from the Yuendumu collection of Australian Aboriginal dental casts using a high-resolution white-light scanning system and reproduced them using four different 3D printing technologies: stereolithography (SLA); fused deposition modeling (FDM); binder-jetting; and material-jetting. We compared the deviations between the original 3D surface models with 3D print scans using color maps generated from a 3D metric deviation analysis., Results: The 3D printed models reproduced both the detail and discrete morphology of the scanned dental casts. The results of the metric deviation analysis demonstrate that all 3D print models were accurate, with only a few small areas of high deviations. The material-jetting and SLA printers were found to perform better than the other two printing machines., Conclusions: The quality of current commercial 3D printers has reached a good level of accuracy and detail reproduction. However, the costs and printing times limit its application to produce large sample numbers for use in most anthropological studies. Nonetheless, RP offers a viable option to preserve numerically constraint fragile skeletal and dental material in paleoanthropological collections., (© 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: The teaching of human head, neck and orbital anatomy forms a critical part of undergraduate and postgraduate medical and allied health professional training, including optometry. While still largely grounded in cadaveric dissection, this method of instruction is constrained in some countries and regional areas by access to real human cadavers, costs of cadaver bequest programmes, health and safety of students and staff and the shortage of adequate time in modern curricula. Many candidates choosing a postgraduate pathway in ophthalmological training, such as those accepted into the Royal Colleges of Ophthalmology in the UK, Australia and New Zealand programmes and the American Academy of Ophthalmologists in the USA, are compelled as adult learners to revise or revisit human orbital anatomy, ocular anatomy and select areas of head and neck anatomy. These candidates are often then faced with the issue of accessing facilities with dissected human cadaveric material., Methods: In light of these difficulties, we developed a novel means of creating high-resolution reproductions of prosected human cadaver orbits suitable for education and training., Results: 3D printed copies of cadaveric orbital dissections (superior, lateral and medial views) showing a range of anatomical features were created., Discussion: These 3D prints offer many advantages over plastinated specimens as they are suitable for rapid reproduction and as they are not human tissue they avoid cultural and ethical issues associated with viewing cadaver specimens. In addition, they are suitable for use in the office, home, laboratory or clinical setting in any part of the world for patient and doctor education., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

The teaching of anatomy has consistently been the subject of societal controversy, especially in the context of employing cadaveric materials in professional medical and allied health professional training. The reduction in dissection-based teaching in medical and allied health professional training programs has been in part due to the financial considerations involved in maintaining bequest programs, accessing human cadavers and concerns with health and safety considerations for students and staff exposed to formalin-containing embalming fluids. This report details how additive manufacturing or three-dimensional (3D) printing allows the creation of reproductions of prosected human cadaver and other anatomical specimens that obviates many of the above issues. These 3D prints are high resolution, accurate color reproductions of prosections based on data acquired by surface scanning or CT imaging. The application of 3D printing to produce models of negative spaces, contrast CT radiographic data using segmentation software is illustrated. The accuracy of printed specimens is compared with original specimens. This alternative approach to producing anatomically accurate reproductions offers many advantages over plastination as it allows rapid production of multiple copies of any dissected specimen, at any size scale and should be suitable for any teaching facility in any country, thereby avoiding some of the cultural and ethical issues associated with cadaver specimens either in an embalmed or plastinated form., (© 2014 American Association of Anatomists.)