The role of 3D modeling in pancreas surgery: a review

Abstract

INTRODUCTION: Surgical interventions on the pancreas are technically complex and are accompanied by a fairly large number of complications, which is largely due to the variant anatomy of the pancreas.OBJECTIVE: The aim of this paper is to evaluate the possibilities of 3D modeling in the surgical treatment of pancreatic diseases according to the literature.MATERIALS AND METHODS: Literature searched in Russian and English for the period from 2017 to 2022 in Medline/PubMed, RSCI/Elibrary, CyberLeninka, Google Scholar databases. The search was conducted on the keywords: pancreas, chronic pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, pancreatic resection, computed tomography, 3-D modeling, 3-D reconstruction, surgical planning, surgical intervention, pancreas, chronic pancreatitis, pancreas cancer, pancreatectomy, computed tomography, 3-D modeling, 3D reconstruction, surgical planning.RESULTS: 49 publications on various aspects of the use of 3D modeling in pancreatic surgery were included in the final analysis. The diagnostic value of building three-dimensional models in assessing the resectability of pancreatic tumors, identifying individual topographic and anatomical features of the pancreatobiliary zone, which should be taken into account during surgery to avoid intra- and postoperative complications, is shown. Examples of a description based on 3D modeling of rare vascular anomalies and cysts that are not visualized according to standard computed tomography in patients who are scheduled for pancreatic surgery are presented. The importance of postoperative 3D modeling of the pancreas for assessing the adequacy of the surgical intervention and early detection of possible complications of the operation is indicated.CONCLUSION: 3D modeling is an innovative and promising diagnostic method that allows increasing the information content of standard computed tomography in pancreatic surgery. 3D models make it possible to select patients for pancreatic resection and substantiate the most optimal surgical strategy. In the future, we should expect an improvement in the results of surgical treatment of pancreatic tumors and complicated pancreatitis.