Abstract
Background
Hard plastics are typically invisible in MRI images, while fluids are not. Objects manufactured using traditional Fuse Deposition Modelling (FDM) 3D-printing techniques are prone to leakage. 3D-printers which use UV-hardened resin to form objects possess a trait that is considered a technical inconvenience: Objects created using these techniques are inherently liquid-tight, and hollow parts require addition of drainage holes for uncured liquid resin to escape. If this is not done liquid resin will remain inside the object, which in some cases is the desired outcome. Digital Light Processing (DLP) is an affordable 3D-printing technique using UV-hardened resin. The technique also possesses superior dimensional accuracy and the ability to recreate fine details.
Purpose
We devised a method to produce an inherently MR-visible accessory using DLP technology with low dimensional tolerance to facilitate MR-guided breast biopsies.
Methods
By hollowing out the object without adding drainage holes and tuning printing parameters such as z-lift distance to retain as much uncured liquid resin inside as possible, objects that are inherently visible in MRI scans can be created without further treatment.
Results
Objects created through our method are simple and cheap to recreate, have minimal manufacturing steps, and are shown to be dimensionally exact and inherently MRI visible to be directly used in various applications without further treatment.
Conclusion
While this method may not always be suitable, we demonstrate that this process is viable in creating highly accurate objects that are inherently visible in MRI scans using equipment that is easy to obtain and trivial in cost.