When Zhao Zichen, urologist at Peking University Shougang Hospital, worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the U.S., he participated in “the Patient Specific High-fidelity 3D Printed Organ Project” as a lead organizer and researcher under the guidance and support of Robert Sweet, professor of the Department of Urinary Surgery at the University of Minnesota, America and Na Yanqun, professor of the Department of Urinary Surgery at Peking University Shougang Hospital since November 2015 and became the lead author of the article entitled “3D Printed Organ Model with Physical Properties of Tissue and Integrated Sensors” published in the journal “Advanced Materials Technologies” on December 6, 2017. As soon as the article was published, it was reprinted and reported by several American agencies and websites. The National Institute of Health (NIH) published a specially-invited press release for the study on its website, and Fox News of America also reported on the study and posted videos about it.

In this study, Zhao Zichen selected a patient with prostate cancer who was from the School of Medicine in the University of Minnesota and ready to undergo the radical prostate cancer surgery. After removing the entire prostate sample in the surgery, he collected mechanical properties (hardness, elasticity, etc.) and optical properties of the tissue and other texture data in detail and matched the corresponding 3D printing “ink” on the basis of these data. Soon afterwards, according to the three-dimensional reconstructed prostatic magnetic resonance images acquired prior to the operation, a prostate model was printed on a customized 3D printer, which was very similar to the original tissue sample in both mechanical and optical properties.

As is known, “3D printing”, not something new, has been used in medical treatment and other professional fields. When surgeons encounter complex clinical cases, they usually discuss surgical plans with experts or colleagues based on the existing plane 2D or three-dimensional reconstructed 3D image data and perform “pre-surgery preview” in the brains. With the development of 3D printing technology, now doctors can print out a model quite similar to the anatomical structure before surgery, and then combine the physical model and imaging data to carry out more stereoscopic and intuitive preoperative planning and exercise.