Feasibility Analysis of 3D Printing With Prenatal Ultrasound for the Diagnosis of Fetal Abnormalities

Objective: To assess the feasibility and accuracy of 3D printing with prenatal three-dimensional ultrasound (3DUS) in the diagnosis of fetal abnormalities. Methods: Fetuses initially diagnosed with various abnormalities were included in this retrospective study. The fetuses were examined by 3DUS, modeled, and 3D printed, and the dimensional accuracy of the 3D prints was analyzed. The effectiveness, demand, necessity of 3D printing, and the diagnostic accuracy of different methods were analyzed based on questionnaire responses from 40 senior ultrasound doctors and 40 postgraduate students. Results: A total of 12 fetuses with cleft lip and palate, spinal, heart, or brain abnormalities were included for detailed assessment. All deviations (mean deviation: 0.1 mm) between the original images and the final 3D prints lay within the consistency boundary (−1.12, 1.31 mm) (P >.05). In the subsequent analyses, 90.8% of the doctors and 94.2% of the students strongly agreed that 3D printing could precisely represent and depict fetal abnormalities. The average misdiagnosis rate of the doctors decreased from 5% to 0.4% after the application of 3D printing combined with 3DUS in comparison with 3DUS alone, and the corresponding value for the students dropped from 17.9% to 5.2%. Conclusions: The errors in modeling and 3D printing based on 3DUS were within acceptable limits, and 3D printing improved the diagnosis of various fetal abnormalities.