• 3D-printing can be used to create customized lung nodules with different degrees of morphometry and composition complexity (solid, subsolid and ground-glass) compatible with international guidelines.
• The 3D printed nodules were used in combination with commercial thorax phantoms and 3D printed customized lung vessel phantoms in CT images in a satisfactory way.
• These nodules could be used to evaluate image quality in CT-thorax imaging and cancer screening programs
• Such nodules could be used in the future to test the performance of AI-software for lung nodule characterization.

Limitations

• Accuracy and reproducibility of the 3D printing process will be evaluated with micro-CT.
• To evaluate the consistency and attenuation variability of 3D printing, a wide set of batches of nodules should be printed (selecting same material and technique) at different times in a range of printers.
• More secure methods to attach the nodules to lung phantoms are under investigation to enable more reproducibility in nodule location.

Funding

UCD Stem Challenge Fund. Project: Phantoms4All_UCD: A quality control framework for 3d printed anthropomorphic test objects for medical imaging devices assessment.