Development of a 3D-Printed Navigational Template for Establishing Rabbit VX2 Lung Cancer Model

Highlights

• An unprecedented navigation template of establishing animal tumor model is proposed.

• Use no medical imaging device, achieve both high success rate and effectiveness.

• Proper stress must be applied to fully limits lung movement without skelton injury.

ABSTRACT

Background

The CT-guided percutaneous puncture-inoculation for establishing the rabbit VX2 lung cancer model (LCM) is time-consuming, requires repeated CT scans, and has a high complication rate. Therefore, this study aimed to develop a navigational template using 3D technology to provide an alternative method for establishing the model with improved success and complication rates.

Materials and Methods

Ideal pressure was determined using chest CT data from 15 anesthetized rabbits fitted with sphygmomanometer cuff around their chests. Subsequently, a preliminary 3D template with a square window and cross-sign to facilitate precise installation was designed. Using another 20 rabbits fixed with the preliminary template, an ideal common puncture point and parameter were determined, a navigational tunnel was set up on the template surface, and the final puncture navigational template was printed out. Eight-four rabbits (42/group) were assigned to the experimental (template-guided puncture) and control (traditional puncutre) groups and underwent VX2 tumor-fragment inoculation to validate the template. Differences in various parameters between two groups were analyzed.

Results

The ideal pressure was 30 mmHg. All rabbits were inoculated successfully and the template adequately fit the rabbit chest. The experimental group displayed significantly better operation time (198.93±36.64 vs 735.14±91.19 seconds); number of CT scans (0 vs 7.19±1.64); pneumothorax (11.9% vs 35.7%), chest seeding (16.7% vs 35.7%), and mid-lung field tumor-bearing (88.1% vs 59.5%) rates than the control group (all, P <0.05). The groups did not differ in rib injury, tumor volume or survival time (all, P > 0.05).

Conclusions

We successfully developed a puncture navigational template, providing an alternative method for establishing the rabbit VX2 LCM.

Introduction

Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide and accounts for approximately 1.8 million deaths every year.^1,2 Establishing an appropriate animal model could be beneficial for conducting research on lung cancer.

Recently, animal models of lung cancer have been mainly created using rodents because they are suitable for studying tumor metastasis mechanisms and various aspects of radiation therapy, as well as for conducting drug screening.^3,4,5 However, because of their small body size, rodent tumor-bearing models are not appropriate for studying endovascular treatment, surgical intervention, and radiofrequency ablation. Conversely, rabbits have a suitable body size, and their application is cost effective for conducting such studies.

Rabbit models of VX2 tumor have been widely used for surgical and radiological research.^6,7,8 Although establishing rabbit lung cancer model has a high success rate using CT-guided lung puncture, the process is time-consuming, requires repeated CT scans, and has high pneumothorax and chest seeding rates.^9,10,11 Developing an approach to overcome such disadvantages may facilitate the establishment of this model. Therefore, in this study, we aimed to create a navigational template using 3D printing technology to guide needle puncturing and to use this template to conveniently develop the rabbit VX2 LCM.