Surgeons are beginning to use 3D models of kidneys to plan cancer operations, it has been revealed.
Doctors have used 3D "printing" to produce exact replicas of the diseased organs in order to prepare operations, a European conference has been told.
The 3D printers used in Japan combine different materials and transparent substances to allow surgeons to view blood vessels.
So far ten of the kidneys have been produced at Kobe University, Japan. Each one has cost up to 1,500 dollars.
The work was unveiled at the conference of the European Association of Urology in Stockholm, Sweden.
Developer Dr Yoshiyuki Shiga said: “The use of this hands-on model system gave us a 3D anatomical understanding of the kidney and the tumour. This enabled the surgeon to work on a smaller area.
"This is important, as it means that the area where the blood supply is interrupted during surgery can be reduced, in fact we found that the shortest interruption time was only eight minutes, compared to a normal average of 22 minutes.
"We also found that where we had to remove part of the kidney, the fact that we knew the exact location of the blood vessels helped us greatly."
Professor Joan Palou, from Barcelona, director of the European School of Urology, said the technique could be introduced into urologist training.
Professor Palou said: “It looks interesting as a new methodology to improve and facilitate to learn robotic surgery. It shows great potential, especially in the most difficult cases.
"Any surgery benefits from the surgeon being experienced and knowing what to expect, and at this point this seems to be the best simulation we have."
Benefit of three-dimensional printing in robotic laparoscopic renal surgery: Tangible surgical navigation using a patient-based three-dimensional printed kidney. 29th EAU Congress.
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