Open 3D Research Articles

Joint crystallization of KCuAl[PO4]2 and K(Al,Zn)2[(P,Si)O4]2: crystal chemistry and mechanism of formation of phosphate-silicate epitaxial heterostructure.

Two novel phases, potassium copper aluminium bis(phosphate), KCuAl[PO4]2 (I), and potassium zinc aluminium bis(phosphate-silicate), K(Al,Zn)2[(P,Si)O4]2 (II), were obtained in one hydrothermal synthesis experiment at 553 K. Their crystal structures have been studied using single-crystal X-ray diffraction. (I) is a new member of the A+M2+M3+[PO4]2 family. Its open 3D framework built by AlO5 and PO4 polyhedra includes small channels populated by columns of CuO6 octahedra sharing edges, and large channels where K+ ions are deposited. It is assumed that the stability of this structure type is due to the pair substitution of Cu/Al with Ni/Fe, Co/Fe or Mg/Fe in different representatives of the series. From the KCuAl[PO4]2 structural features, one may suppose it is a potentially electrochemically active material and/or possible low-temperature antiferromagnet. In accordance with results obtained from X-ray diffraction data, using scanning electron microscopy, microprobe analysis and detailed crystal chemical observation, (II) is considered as a product of epitaxial intergrowth of phosphate KAlZn[PO4]2 and silicate KAlSi[SiO4]2 components having closely similar crystal structures. The assembly of `coherent intergrowth' is described in the framework of a single diffraction pattern.

An open source heterogeneous 3D printed mouse phantom utilising a novel bone representative thermoplastic

The lack of rigorous quality standards in pre-clinical radiation dosimetry has renewed interest in the development of anthropomorphic phantoms. Using 3D printing customisable phantoms can be created to assess all parts of pre-clinical radiation research: planning, image guidance and treatment delivery. We present the full methodology, including material development and printing designs, for the production of a high spatial resolution, anatomically realistic heterogeneous small animal phantom. A methodology for creating and validating tissue equivalent materials is presented. The technique is demonstrated through the development of a bone-equivalent material. This material is used together with a soft-tissue mimicking ABS plastic filament to reproduce the corresponding structure geometries captured from a CT scan of a nude mouse. Air gaps are used to represent the lungs. Phantom validation was performed through comparison of the geometry and x-ray attenuation of CT images of the phantom and animal images. A 6.6% difference in the attenuation of the bone-equivalent material compared to the reference standard in softer beams (0.5 mm Cu HVL) rapidly decreases as the beam is hardened. CT imaging shows accurate (sub-millimetre) reproduction of the skeleton (Distance-To-Agreement 0.5 mm ± 0.4 mm) and body surface (0.7 mm ± 0.5 mm). Histograms of the voxel intensity profile of the phantom demonstrate suitable similarity to those of both the original mouse image and that of a different animal. We present an approach for the efficient production of an anthropomorphic phantom suitable for the quality assurance of pre-clinical radiotherapy. Our design and full methodology are provided as open source to encourage the pre-clinical radiobiology community to adopt a common QA standard. Abbreviations ABS – acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, CBCT – cone beam computed tomography, FDM – fused deposition modelling, HVL – half value layer, HU – Hounsfield units, ICRU - International Commission on Radiation Units and Measurements, NIST – National Institute of Standards and Technology, NPL – National Physical Laboratory, QA – quality assurance, ROI – region of interest, SARRP – small animal radiation research platform, STL – stereolithography.

Principles of Three-Dimensional Computer Design for Understanding Impossible Figures

For a better understanding of the impossible figures, it is advisable to use modern technological means by which the design of the geometry of the models gives a complete understanding of how they are made. Computer-aided 3D design completely solves this problem. That is, on the one hand, the ultimate visual variant of impossible figures is created, on the other hand, there is the possibility for real manipulation, movement, rotation and other models of space. In this study, 3D models of impossible figures are fully constructed, which are applied in the educational process in order to develop logical thinking. The steps of creating 3D geometry using open source software Blender 3D are described in details.

Principles of Three-Dimensional Computer Design for Understanding Impossible Figures

For a better understanding of the impossible figures, it is advisable to use modern technological means by which the design of the geometry of the models gives a complete understanding of how they are made. Computer-aided 3D design completely solves this problem. That is, on the one hand, the ultimate visual variant of impossible figures is created, on the other hand, there is the possibility for real manipulation, movement, rotation and other models of space. In this study, 3D models of impossible figures are fully constructed, which are applied in the educational process in order to develop logical thinking. The steps of creating 3D geometry using open source software Blender 3D are described in details.

Spatial and chemical confined ultra-small CsPbBr3 perovskites in dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres with enhanced stability

Abstract Cesium lead halide-based perovskite (CsPbX3, X = Cl, Br, I) nanoparticles (NPs) have received considerable attention for their outstanding photophysical properties and promising applications in optoelectronic devices. However, the optoelectronic performance of CsPbX3 NPs synthesized by most of present strategies are susceptible to external factors when exposed in atmosphere. Herein, benefiting from the unique open 3D porous architecture of dendritic mesoporous silica nanospheres (DMSNs) with cage-like spherical nanopores, highly dispersed and pure cubic CsPbX3 NPs were successfully immobilized onto the mesoporous networks. A strategy of combining chemical anchoring and spatial isolation is designed for the one-pot synthesis of CsPbX3 NPs. These as-fabricated CsPbX3@HA-DMSNs exhibit excellent luminescence property (tunable emission color and high quantum yield (QY reached a maximum of 55%)) and enhanced stability (especially for the water resistance capacity). The photoluminescence (PL) was sustained without any distinct change after 100 d storage under ambient conditions, even 90% PL intensity was maintained after continuous UV irradiation for 45 h and no obvious PL reduction was observed when soaked in water for 7 h. Most importantly, the resulting CsPbX3@HA-DMSNs could be easily purified by filtration without aggregation and easy to scale up production compared with the conventional solution-phase mediated synthesis, which provides an alternative for the effective fabrication of perovskite-based devices, for example, here, the white light emitting devices (LEDs).

Modifications of MXene layers for supercapacitors

The re-stacking of Ti 3 C 2 T x -MXene layers has been prevented by using two different approaches: a facile hard templating method and a pore-forming approach. The expanded MXene obtained by using MgO nanoparticles as hard templates displayed an open morphology based on crumpled layers. The corresponding electrode material delivered 180 F g −1 of capacitance at 1 A g −1 and maintained 99% of its initial capacitance at 5 A g −1 over five thousand charge-discharge cycles. On the other hand, the MXene foam prepared after heating a MXene-urea composite at 550°C, showed numerous macropores on the surface layer and a complex open 3D inner-architecture. Thanks to this foamy porous structure, the binder-free electrode based on the resulting MXene foam displayed a great capacitance of 203 F g −1 at 5 A g −1 current density, 99% of which was retained after five thousand cycles. In comparison, the pristine MXene –based electrode delivered 82 F g −1 , only, in the same operating conditions. An asymmetric device built on a negative MXene foam electrode and a positive MnO 2 electrode exhibited an attractive energy density of 16.5 Wh kg −1 (or 10 Wh L −1 ) and 160 W kg −1 (or 8.5 kW L −1 ) power density. Altogether, the enhanced performances of these nano-engineered 2D materials are a clear demonstration of the efficiency of the chosen synthetic approaches to work out the re-stacking issue of MXene layers. • Re-stacking of MXene nanosheets was worked out by modifying the layer morphology. • Resulting foamy electrode materials show remarkable pseudocapacitive behavior. • An asymmetric device was built on MXene foam and MnO2 electrodes. • Attractive power and energy densities were obtained in aqueous KOH electrolyte.

Preparation of the flower-like MoS2/SnS2 heterojunction as an efficient electrocatalyst for hydrogen evolution reaction

Layered metal sulfides (LMS) are promising in the electrochemical hydrogen evolution reaction (HER). Unfortunately, LMS shows poor electrical conductivity, only the exposed edges are active for hydrogen evolution reaction. In this work, a MoS2/SnS2 heterojunction with an open 3D flower-like structure is prepared via a simple hydrothermal method. The MoS2/SnS2 heterojunction displays a high HER activity, obtaining a current density of 10 mA cm−2 at an overpotential of 288 mV and a Tafel slope of 50 mV dec-1. In addition, the MoS2/SnS2 heterojunction shows high durability for HER. Structure and composition analysis, together with electrochemical measurements show that the MoS2/SnS2 heterojunction could effectively induce the interface-coupling effect and adjust the electronic structure, optimize the kinetics process, in turn, enhance the HER performances.

An approach for adaptive automatic threat recognition within 3D computed tomography images for baggage security screening.

The screening of baggage using X-ray scanners is now routine in aviation security with automatic threat detection approaches, based on 3D X-ray computed tomography (CT) images, known as Automatic Threat Recognition (ATR) within the aviation security industry. These current strategies use pre-defined threat material signatures in contrast to adaptability towards new and emerging threat signatures. To address this issue, the concept of adaptive automatic threat recognition (AATR) was proposed in previous work. In this paper, we present a solution to AATR based on such X-ray CT baggage scan imagery. This aims to address the issues of rapidly evolving threat signatures within the screening requirements. Ideally, the detection algorithms deployed within the security scanners should be readily adaptable to different situations with varying requirements of threat characteristics (e.g., threat material, physical properties of objects). We tackle this issue using a novel adaptive machine learning methodology with our solution consisting of a multi-scale 3D CT image segmentation algorithm, a multi-class support vector machine (SVM) classifier for object material recognition and a strategy to enable the adaptability of our approach. Experiments are conducted on both open and sequestered 3D CT baggage image datasets specifically collected for the AATR study. Our proposed approach performs well on both recognition and adaptation. Overall our approach can achieve the probability of detection around 90% with a probability of false alarm below 20%. Our AATR shows the capabilities of adapting to varying types of materials, even the unknown materials which are not available in the training data, adapting to varying required probability of detection and adapting to varying scales of the threat object.

Formula omitted] interpolation T-splines

In this work, we construct a class of C2 interpolation T-spline (called IT-spline) basis functions over regular T-meshes. A new rule for determining the local knot vectors of the IT-spline basis functions is designed. The resulting IT-spline basis functions are always linearly independent for regular T-meshes. In order to guarantee the partition of unity and compact support properties of the IT-spline basis functions, several modified schemes are developed. An iteration adjustment algorithm for adjusting the points on IT-spline surface to the targeted points is proposed. Some applications of the new IT-spline basis functions in fitting bivariate functions and open 3D meshes, solving numerical PDEs and IGA are given.

3D printed biaxial stretcher compatible with live fluorescence microscopy.

Mechanical characterization and tensile testing of biological samples is important when determining the material properties of a tissue; however, performing tensile testing and tissue stretching while monitoring cellular changes via fluorescence microscopy is often challenging. Additionally, commercially available cell/tissue stretchers are often expensive, hard to customize, and limited in their fluorescence imaging compatibility. We have developed a 3D printed Open source Biaxial Stretcher (OBS) to be a low-cost stage top mountable biaxial stretching system for use with live cell fluorescence microscopy in both upright and inverted microscope configurations. Our OBS takes advantage of readily available open source desktop 3D printer hardware and software to deliver a fully motorized high precision (10 ± 0.5 μm movement accuracy) low cost biaxial stretching device capable of 4.5 cm of XY travel with a touch screen control panel, and an integrated heated platform with sample bath to maintain cell and tissue viability. Further, we designed a series of tissue mounts and clamps to accommodate varying samples from synthetic materials to biological tissue. By creating a low-profile design, we can directly mount the stretcher onto a microscope stage, and through coordinated biaxial stretching we maintain a constant field of view facilitating real-time sample tracking and time-lapse fluorescence imaging.

A novel method to model hepatic vascular network using vessel segmentation, thinning, and completion.

The accurate modeling of the liver vessel network structure is an important prerequisite for developing a preoperative plan for the liver. Considering that extracting liver blood vessels from patient's abdominal computed tomography(CT) images requires several manual operations, this study proposed an automatic segmentation method of liver vessels based on graph cut, thinning, and vascular combination, which can obtain a complete liver vascular network. First, the CT image was preprocessed by grayscale mapping based on sigmoid function, vessel enhancement based on Hessian filter, and denoising based on anisotropic filter to enhance the grayscale contrast between the vascular and non-vascular parts of the liver. Then, the liver vessels were initially segmented based on the improved three-dimensional graph cut algorithm. Based on the obtained liver vascular structure, the vessel centerline of the liver was then extracted by the proposed thinning algorithm that continuously traversed the foreground voxel points and iteratively deleted the simple points. Finally, the combination of vascular centerline optimization was used to predict and link the vascular centerline fractured portion. The under-segmented liver vessels were complemented based on the complete vascular centerline tree. To verify the proposed hepatic vascular segmentation and complementation algorithm, the open 3D Image Reconstruction for Comparison of Algorithm Database (3Dircadb) was applied to test and quantify the results. The results showed that the proposed algorithm can accurately and effectively segment the vascular network structure from abdominal CT images, and the proposed vascular complementation method can restore the true information of under-segmented liver vessels. Graphical abstract A novel hepatic vessel segmentation method from abdominal CT images was proposed, including graph cut algorithm, centerline extraction, and broken vessel completion. First, the graph cut algorithm was used to obtain the initial segmentation result. Then, the centerline of the initial segmentation result was extracted. Finally, the initial segmentation result was optimized through centerline analysis.

A NiFe layered double hydroxide-decorated N-doped entangled-graphene framework: a robust water oxidation electrocatalyst.

Three dimensional (3D) porous carbon materials are highly desirable for electrochemical applications owing to their high surface area and porosity. Uniformly distributed porosity in the 3D architecture of carbon support materials allows reactant molecules to access more electrochemically active centres and simultaneously facilitate removal of the product formed during electrochemical reactions. Herein, we have prepared a nitrogen-doped entangled graphene framework (NEGF), decorated with NiFe-LDH nanostructures by an in situ solvothermal method followed by freeze-drying at high vacuum pressure and low temperature. The freeze-drying method helped to prevent the restacking of the graphene sheets and the formation of a high surface area nitrogen-doped entangled graphene framework (NEGF) supported NiFe-LDHs. The incorporation of the NEGF has significantly reduced the overpotential for the electrochemical oxygen evolution reaction (OER) in 1 M KOH solution. This corresponds to an overpotential reduction from 340 mV for NiFe-LDHs to 290 mV for NiFe-LDH/NEGF to reach the benchmark current density of 10 mA cm−2. The preparation of the catalyst is conceived through a low-temperature scalable process.

Synthesis and Characterization of Co(II) Coordination Polymer with a Flexible Bidentate Ligand

A coordination polymer, {[Co(bib)3](BF4)2}n, was prepared for the first time at room temperature via the reaction between cobalt(II) chloride and flexible linker ligand, 1,4-bis(imidazolyl)butane (bib), in the presence of sodium tetrafluoroborate using a three layers method. The compound was characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy, and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. It crystallizes in the triclinic sp. gr. $$P\bar {1}$$ with the unit cell parameters a = 9.8124(2), b = 22.1804(4), c = 26.9233(5) A and α = 71.910(2)°, β = 89.418(2)°, γ = 86.992(2)°. In the polymeric structure of the compound, the cobalt(II) ions have the CoN6 octahedral geometry and six bib-ligands are coordinated to one metal ion to form an open 3D 2-fold interpenetrated framework (α-polonium-type net, pcu).

Small Caliber Compliant Vascular Grafts Based on Elastin-Like Recombinamers for in situ Tissue Engineering.

Vascular disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, but surgical options are restricted by the limited availability of autologous vessels, and the suboptimal performance of prosthetic vascular grafts. This is especially evident for coronary artery by-pass grafts, whose small caliber is associated with a high occlusion propensity. Despite the potential of tissue-engineered grafts, compliance mismatch, dilatation, thrombus formation, and the lack of functional elastin are still major limitations leading to graft failure. This calls for advanced materials and fabrication schemes to achieve improved control on the grafts' properties and performance. Here, bioinspired materials and technical textile components are combined to create biohybrid cell-free implants for endogenous tissue regeneration. Clickable elastin-like recombinamers are processed to form an open macroporous 3D architecture to favor cell ingrowth, while being endowed with the non-thrombogenicity and the elastic behavior of the native elastin. The textile components (i.e., warp-knitted and electrospun meshes) are designed to confer suture retention, long-term structural stability, burst strength, and compliance. Notably, by controlling the electrospun layer's thickness, the compliance can be modulated over a wide range of values encompassing those of native vessels. The grafts support cell ingrowth, extracellular matrix deposition and endothelium development in vitro. Overall, the fabrication strategy results in promising off-the-shelf hemocompatible vascular implants for in situ tissue engineering by addressing the known limitations of bioartificial vessel substitutes.

Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanofibers on Cu Foil as a 3D Current Collector for Reversible Li Plating/Stripping toward High‐Performance Li–S Batteries

AbstractA vertically aligned carbon nanofiber (VACNF) array with unique conically stacked graphitic structure directly grown on a planar Cu current collector (denoted as VACNF/Cu) is used as a high‐porosity 3D host to overcome the commonly encountered issues of Li metal anodes. The excellent electrical conductivity and highly active lithiophilic graphitic edge sites facilitate homogenous coaxial Li plating/stripping around each VACNF and forming a uniform solid electrolyte interphase. The high specific surface area effectively reduces the local current density and suppresses dendrite growth during the charging/discharging processes. Meanwhile, this open nanoscale vertical 3D structure eliminates the volume changes during Li plating/stripping. As a result, highly reversible Li plating/stripping with high coulombic efficiency is achieved at various current densities. A low voltage hysteresis of 35 mV over 500 h in symmetric cells is achieved at 1 mA cm−2 with an areal Li plating capacity of 2 mAh cm−2, which is far superior to the planar Cu current collector. Furthermore, a Li–S battery using a S@PAN cathode and a lithium‐plated VACNF/Cu (VACNF/Cu@Li) anode with slightly higher capacity (2 mAh cm−2) exhibits an excellent rate capability and high cycling stability with no capacity fading over 600 cycles.

Potential Role of Convolutional Neural Network Based Algorithm in Patient Selection for DCIS Observation Trials Using a Mammogram Dataset

We investigated the feasibility of utilizing convolutional neural network (CNN) for predicting patients with pure Ductal Carcinoma In Situ (DCIS) versus DCIS with invasion using mammographic images. An IRB-approved retrospective study was performed. 246 unique images from 123 patients were used for our CNN algorithm. In total, 164 images in 82 patients diagnosed with DCIS by stereotactic-guided biopsy of calcifications without any upgrade at the time of surgical excision (pure DCIS group). A total of 82 images in 41 patients with mammographic calcifications yielding occult invasive carcinoma as the final upgraded diagnosis on surgery (occult invasive group). Two standard mammographic magnification views (CC and ML/LM) of the calcifications were used for analysis. Calcifications were segmented using an open source software platform 3D Slicer and resized to fit a 128 × 128 pixel bounding box. A 15 hidden layer topology was used to implement the neural network. The network architecture contained five residual layers and dropout of 0.25 after each convolution. Five-fold cross validation was performed using training set (80%) and validation set (20%). Code was implemented in open source software Keras with TensorFlow on a Linux workstation with NVIDIA GTX 1070 Pascal GPU. Our CNN algorithm for predicting patients with pure DCIS achieved an overall diagnostic accuracy of 74.6% (95% CI, ±5) with area under the ROC curve of 0.71 (95% CI, ±0.04), specificity of 91.6% (95% CI, ±5%) and sensitivity of 49.4% (95% CI, ±6%). It's feasible to apply CNN to distinguish pure DCIS from DCIS with invasion with high specificity using mammographic images.

A long life and high efficient rechargeable hybrid zinc-air/Co3O4 battery with stable high working voltage

Rechargeable hybrid zinc battery has a higher working voltage and a higher energy density than the conventional zinc-air battery and is considered as one of the potential candidates for the next generation of secondary batteries. Herein, we demonstrate a novel rechargeable hybrid zinc battery using Co3O4 nanowire arrays grown directly on nickel foam current collector as electro-catalysts of a cathode, coupled with a steel-foil anode current collector in 6 M KOH aqueous solution electrolyte with adding ZnO. The synthesized Co3O4 nanowire arrays with a unique open 3D structure ensure the effective utilization of the catalytic sites and rapid diffusion of oxygen, thus providing excellent electrochemical performances. The resultant battery can deliver electrochemical energy through the redox reactions of cobalt oxides in the Zn-Co3O4 battery and ORR/OER in the Zn-air battery. The hybrid zinc battery cycled steadily up to 2200 cycles (over 977 h) with the highest Coulombic efficiency of 92.8%. Almost every cycle exhibits a single flat discharge voltage plateau at around 1.65 V. These results provide critical advances in developing a robust rechargeable hybrid zinc battery for large-scale applications.

Evaluation of labial versus labio-inferior lines of osteosynthesis using 3D miniplate for fractures of anterior mandible: A finite element analysis with a pilot clinical trial

PurposeThe fractures of anterior mandible are subject to severe torsional forces due to muscles acting in opposite directions. 3D miniplate has been suggested as a good alternative by some researchers. However, finite element model (FEM) studies indicate that labio-inferior positioning of two miniplates perpendicular to each other offers better stability as compared to labial positioning. This study aims at combining the advantages of a single 3D miniplate and labio-inferior positioning of two conventional miniplates, which was assessed by finite element analysis along with a pilot clinical trial. MethodsTwo FEM models were created using CT data of a 24-year-old patient with Angle class I occlusion: control model with labial plating and study model with labio-inferior plating. The models were processed with MIMICS® (materialise, Leuven, Belgium), CATIA® (Dassault Systemes) and finite element analysis softwares. Parameters adopted for analysis were (1) displacement (mm) of fracture fragments during each screw fixation, (2) lingual splay and post fixation stability of fracture fragments with masticatory load, and (3) stress distribution (MPa) across fracture fragments. Moreover, a pilot clinical trial including five patients with anterior mandible fracture was conducted. The fractures were managed by intraoral open reduction and 3D miniplate fixation in labio-inferior position. Intraoperative interfragmentary gap, post fixation lingual splay and radiographic fracture union and complications were assessed clinically. ResultsLabio-inferior plating demonstrated less displacement (mm) of fracture fragments during screw fixation (0.059 vs. 0.079) as well as after application of masticatory load (1.805 vs. 1.860). Negligible lingual splay and less stress distribution (MPa) across fracture fragments (1.860 vs. 1.847) were appreciated in the study group as compared to control group. Clinical trial support the favorable outcome related to intraoperative and postoperative assessment parameters. ConclusionFEM analysis and clinical trial reveal better results with labio-inferior positioning of 3D miniplate when compared to labial positioning.

Fully automatic catheter segmentation in MRI with 3D convolutional neural networks: application to MRI-guided gynecologic brachytherapy

External-beam radiotherapy followed by high dose rate (HDR) brachytherapy is the standard-of-care for treating gynecologic cancers. The enhanced soft-tissue contrast provided by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) makes it a valuable imaging modality for diagnosing and treating these cancers. However, in contrast to computed tomography (CT) imaging, the appearance of the brachytherapy catheters, through which radiation sources are inserted to reach the cancerous tissue later on, is often variable across images. This paper reports, for the first time, a new deep-learning-based method for fully automatic segmentation of multiple closely spaced brachytherapy catheters in intraoperative MRI.Represented in the data are 50 gynecologic cancer patients treated by MRI-guided HDR brachytherapy. For each patient, a single intraoperative MRI was used. 826 catheters in the images were manually segmented by an expert radiation physicist who is also a trained radiation oncologist. The number of catheters in a patient ranged between 10 and 35. A deep 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) model was developed and trained. In order to make the learning process more robust, the network was trained 5 times, each time using a different combination of shown patients. Finally, each test case was processed by the five networks and the final segmentation was generated by voting on the obtained five candidate segmentations. 4-fold validation was executed and all the patients were segmented.An average distance error of 2.0 ± 3.4 mm was achieved. False positive and false negative catheters were 6.7% and 1.5% respectively. Average Dice score was equal to 0.60 ± 0.17. The algorithm is available for use in the open source software platform 3D Slicer allowing for wide scale testing and research discussion. In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, fully automatic segmentation of multiple closely spaced catheters from intraoperative MR images was achieved for the first time in gynecological brachytherapy.

S16-02 SESSION 16: PLANNING/IMAGING – PART II TRANSLATION OF PATIENT UNIQUENESS AND TREATMENT PLAN INTO PRE-SURGICAL PLANNING OF CRANIOPLASTY SURGERY USING WEB ACCESS 3D MODEL-BASED ICT TOOLS

Introduction: Although cranioplasty is considered to be a frequent and straightforward procedure, studies have shown complication rate up to 34%. While cranioplasty with autogenous bone is still regarded as the gold standard to restore cranial vault integrity, there is currently no consensus for the optimal material in the management of cranial defects. Emerging manufacturing technologies and the development of new materials offer an wide range of solutions, yet one can assume that material is chosen in regard of price, lead time, reimbursement policy and medical institutions’ preferences, but rarely according to the initial indication and the expected outcomes for such procedure, which prevent patient-specific devices from achieving large-scale utilization despite their demonstrated superiority over off-the-shelf solutions. It is therefore necessary to promote new approaches, via the development of innovative ICT tools, integrating clinical support during the pre-surgical planning, translating clinical history, treatment plan and follow-up strategy into the design of patient-specific cranial implants to achieve better clinical outcome. Methods: To transform this paradigm nowadays established in cranioplasty surgery, the first open access 3D virtual model-based ICT tools for surgeon-manufacturer communication and pre-surgical planning, serving as patient-specific implant configurator in regard of patient and pathology specificities, has been developed for the management of complex clinical cases. Results: This tool successfully grants the surgeons, via the manipulation of 3D models, the ability to describe in a more natural way, the individual solutions to realize for the treatment of a particular patient. Additionally, the surgeon’s participation in the co-creation and approval processes of the solution is being facilitated by the specification of requirements on virtual models and the systematization of the design features. Along with it, the accumulated experience of the use of patient-specific implants (PSI) is used as a clinical decision support and as a learning tool to create added value not only for patients, but for surgeons and medical institutions as well. Conclusion: This newly developed 3D virtual model-based technology, set as surgeon-manufacturer communication for PSI order and configurator, ensures correct data interpretation, product safety and functionality while taking into account the specificity of one patient for whom the device is prescribed. Those will accelerate the shift of the surgical thought paradigm towards personalized approach and undoubtedly will help achieve better clinical outcome, shorten delivery time and drop the costs of the implants used to manage rare and complex clinical cases.