Print, plan, perform: Evaluating the clinical impact of anatomical modelling in the surgical treatment of pediatric thoracic and abdominal tumours.
AI interpretation is pending for this paper.
Open original publication →What the AI sees
Not AI summarized yet.
Research significance
Pending deeper interpretation.
Source abstract
PURPOSE: Pediatric thoracic and abdominal tumours present unique challenges due to complex anatomic relationships. Patient-specific anatomical models can enhance surgical planning and conduct. Our objective was to evaluate the clinical impact of anatomical models in the perioperative management of patients with thoracic and abdominal tumours. METHODS: At the request of the attending surgeon, patient-specific anatomical models (virtual and/or 3D printed) were created for patients undergoing surgical treatment for tumours in the thorax or abdomen at a tertiary children's hospital. Following surgery, surgeons completed a survey with Likert-scale and open-ended questions to assess the model's utility. Descriptive statistics were used to analyze patient data, while text responses were summarized narratively. RESULTS: Models were created for 15 patients between 2021 and 2025. The mean age at surgery was 5.3 years [IQR = 1.8, 7.8]. 33.3 % of patients were female. Tumours were evenly split between thoracic and abdominopelvic locations. Pathologies included neuroblastic tumours (n = 8, 53.3 %), nephroblastoma (n = 2, 13.3 %), hepatoblastoma (n = 1), epithelioid sarcoma (n = 1), osteosarcoma (n = 1), and Ewing's sarcoma (n = 1). One additional case (n = 1) was later reassessed as an empyema. Most surgeons (93.8 %) felt the models accurately represented radiologic and surgical findings, while 80 % reported an improved ability to anticipate surgical challenges. Surgeons also endorsed a favourable impact on family understanding of the disease (85.7 %) and trainee understanding of the operative plan (70 %). CONCLUSIONS: Anatomical models enhance perioperative planning and multidisciplinary communication in pediatric thoracic and abdominal tumour cases. Expanding in-house patient-centred anatomic modelling capacity at high-volume pediatric centres may help with the perioperative and intraoperative optimization of surgical planning.