Abstract:

Objective: To explore the effects of using three-dimensional (3D) anatomical model based on pulmonary CT to promote education for detecting ground glass nodules and improve the learning procedure of trainees. Methods: We recruited 42 trainees during their intern year (2023 year) at the Department of Radiology of The Eighth Medical Center of Chinese PLA General Hospital. The trainees were randomly allocated to a 3D model group with 21 cases (odd NO) and a control group with 21 cases (even NO) following sorts of computer-generated random numbers corresponding to student ID. Both groups learned to identify pulmonary ground glass nodules on non-contrast CT images by reading educational materials and radiographs. For contrast, the 3D model group learned the relationship between a pulmonary nodule and its surrounding anatomical tissues by observing a 3D model based on pulmonary contrast CT. We assessed trainees’ ability of identifying pulmonary nodules by conducting exams weekly during the 8 weeks of education. CT data of 10 cases with pulmonary ground glass nodules and 10 normal cases were selected randomly for assessment. The exam scores were calculated as (number of correctly detecting nodules+number of correctly reporting no nodule)×5 which were then compared between the two groups. Results: The weekly scores showed an increasing trend. The median (IQR) score of the 3D model group and control group increased from 50 (45, 55) and 45 (45, 55) to 95 (90, 95) and 90 (80, 95), respectively. The scores of the 3D model group at weeks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 were higher than those of control group (50 (45, 55), 70 (65, 70), 75 (70, 80), 75 (75, 85), 90 (85, 95), 95 (90, 95), 95 (90, 95) vs 45 (45, 55), 60 (60, 65), 65 (60, 70), 70 (70, 75), 75 (70, 80), 85 (85, 95), 85 (85, 95); U value: 306.499, 334.001, 336.478, 352.007, 411.002, 325.492, 310.477; P value: 0.025, 0.003, 0.003, <0.001, <0.001, 0.006, 0.019)). The difference in score between the two groups at week 8 failed to reach statistical significance (U=283.491, P=0.103). Conclusion: Education assisted by 3D Models can promote trainees to rapidly increase their ability of identifying pulmonary ground glass nodules, thus could save learning time.

Key words: Lung neoplasms, Sarcoidosis, pulmonary, Tomography, X-Ray computed, Imaging, three-dimensional, Teaching