Custom-Made T-Tube Designed by 3-D Reconstruction Technique, a Preliminary Study

삼차원 재건 기술을 이용한 맞춤형 몽고메리 T-Tube의 제작에 관한 예비 연구

Background: Montgomery T-tube is widely used to maintain airway in many cases. Market-available tubes are not always fit to the trachea of each patient and need some modification such as trimming. Complications do happen in prolonged use like tracheostomy tubes. To overcome above limitations, we designed custom-made T-tube using CT data with the aid of 3D reconstruction software. Material and Method: Boundaries were extracted from neck CT data of normal person and processed by surface rendering methods. Real laryngotracheal model and tracheal inner surface-mimicking tube model were made with plaster and rubber. The main tube was designed by accumulation of circles or simple closed curves made from boundaries. Stomal tube was made by accumulation of squares due to limitation of software. Measurement data of tracheal lumen were used to custom-made T-tubes. Tracheal lumen residing portion (vertical limb) was made like circular cylinder or simple closed curved cylinder. Stomal portion (horizontal limb) was designed like square cylinder. Results: Custom made T-tube with cylindric vertical limb and horizontal limb of square cylinder was designed. Conclusion: CT data was helpful in making custom made T-tube with 3D reconstruction technique. If suitable materials are available, commercial T-tube can be printed out from 3D printers.