Telemedicine journal and e-health : the official journal of the American Telemedicine Association
-
Rapid growth of three-dimensional (3D) printing in recent years has led to new applications of this technology across all medical fields. This review article presents a broad range of examples on how 3D printing is facilitating liver surgery, including models for preoperative planning, education, and simulation. ⋯ Although the technology is still in its early stages, presented models are considered useful in preoperative planning and patient and student education. There are multiple factors limiting the use of 3D printing in everyday healthcare, the most important being high costs and the time-consuming process of development. Promising early results need to be verified in larger randomized trials, which will provide more statistically significant results.