Clinical application of digital design combined with personalized three-dimensional printing technology in the treatment of deep oromaxillofacial-cervical tumors

Abstract

Background and Purpose: The emergence of digitalized technology has greatly promoted the progress of craniomaxillofacial and head and neck surgery. This present study aimed to explore and describe the advantages of digital design combined with personalized three-dimensional (3D) printing technology in the treatment of deep oromaxillofacial-cervical tumors. Patients and Methods: Nine patients with deep tumor of oral and maxillofacial and neck region admitted to Xinjiang Medical University Affiliated First Hospital from June 2017 to March 2021 were all treated by the digitalized surgery. Preoperatively, radiological examination including computed tomography (CT) angiography, plain and enhanced CT scan, and magnetic resonance imaging were performed in all patients. The software packaged of MIMICS, 3-matic and MAYA was cooperatively used to offer 3D modeling and create 3D texturing for morphological and functional reconstruction. The application effect was assessed by analyzing the relevant data and every patient followed up regularly after the operation. Results: The reconstructed images were acquired through computer-aided three-dimension reconstruction, as well as the navigated devices were established through 3D printing. There were totally nine patients including 4 males and 5 females with a mean age of 48.5 years old, whose tumor size ranged from 1.5 cm × 2.2 cm to 3.5 cm × 4.2 cm. The analysis of data also showed that five cases were characterized by oromaxillofacial osseous defect, 2 primary lesions were adjacent to bone and 2 were noncontacted with bone; the location of 7 cases were closely next to blood vessels of oral-maxillofacial-cervical region, while 2 were contactless. Conclusions: Although the tumors occurred in the deeply maxillofacial area are difficult to resect due to several complex anatomical and functional subunits in this area, digital design combined with 3D technology is a promising tool to provide precise diagnosis with an accurately targeted treatment for maxillofacial deep tumor. The preoperative design and the combined navigation technology can further improve the accuracy and safety for curing deep maxillofacial and neck tumors.