3D printing in urology as a trend in personalized medicine

Introduction. 3D printing technology is being actively introduced into the urological practice. Apart from improving of patients counselling, this technology allows for improved planning end performance of surgery. Aim of study. To determine the current state of three-dimensional printing in the urological practice. Materials and methods. Embase, Medline, Google Scholar, Scopus databases were searched to find related publications until September 2020. Inclusion criteria were: the availability of the full article, the use of 3D models for teaching patients or residents, and their use in planning and performing surgery on patients over 18 years of age. Results. One hundred and ninety seven publications were included, of which 40 were selected for a further analysis. 11 articles were related to the study of the usefulness of printed models in counseling patients with urolithiasis, planning and training of retrograde lithotripsy and percutaneous nephrolithotripsy. In 20 articles, the printed model was used to counsel patients with renal neoplasms, planning and intraoperative navigation. In 9 papers, the results of the use of printed models in communication with patients with prostate tumor, in improving the determination of its localization and planning of the upcoming surgery were published. Conclusion. The creation of three-dimensional printed models is promising in urology. Despite the current limitations this field is becoming more accessible for both patients and doctors.