Introduction: Craniotomies are a fundamental aspect of neurosurgery. Training neurosurgery residents to perform craniotomies traditionally includes cadaver skulls, images, and direct surgical observation. Cadaver skulls are both limited and costly, limiting hands on training for residents during laboratory sessions. 3-Dimensional (3D) printers are being used to advance medical education, providing a cost-effective and easily distributable method of engaging with anatomy. While 3D printing has become more common in residency training, it has not yet been optimized and is far from standard practice. The goal of this project is to create an affordable, accessible, and standardized craniotomy model for residents to both learn and practice craniotomies.
Methods: Residents at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill were consulted to determine which aspects of craniotomy training they found the most challenging and how they would want 3D models built to address these challenges. A 51-year-old male skull was obtained from the National Institute of Health’s 3D model repository and edited it to include templates for the three most common craniotomy approaches: pterional, orbitozygomatic, and retrosigmoid. A miniature model was printed and reviewed by neurosurgeons at East Carolina Health for accuracy. The models were then revised and distributed to residents at UNC-Chapel Hill, Atrium Health Carolinas Medical Center, and Duke.
Results: A full-size craniotomy model was successfully developed to include the three craniotomy approaches mentioned above and found to be accurate when reviewed by neurosurgeons. Residents reported that these models were very useful and aided in their learning.
Conclusion : 3D-printed craniotomy models offer a cost-effective solution to address the limitations of cadaver skull use in neurosurgical training. Further research involves using printing filament that resemble skull bone and incorporating 3D-printed soft tissue to replicate internal skull anatomy. Models will be hosted on an online repository (PIRATE3D) for dissemination and use across neurosurgical training programs.
.jpg)
