Modern Imaging Guidelines for 3-D Modeling of Pediatric Solid Tumors: A New Era of Surgical Oncology Operative Planning

Infographic · Mar 2026 · 1 min read

In brief

Multidisciplinary expert panel establishes 12 evidence-based guidelines for CT/MRI acquisition and 3-D model creation in pediatric solid tumor surgery. Recommendations address the unique challenges of variable tumor types and anatomy in children, providing standardized quality assurance criteria for surgical planning models.

Twelve evidence-based guidelines establish minimum standards for CT/MRI acquisition and 3-D model creation in pediatric solid tumors.
Image acquisition protocols received strongest consensus (very strong recommendation), ensuring reproducible high-quality source data.
Standardized segmentation and display guidelines address current variability in institutional 3-D modeling techniques.
Multidisciplinary expert consensus enables consistent surgical planning across pediatric oncology centers.
Guidelines specifically address unique challenges of diverse pediatric tumor types and non-uniform anatomy.

Written by the GCMD Library team from the infographic.

The infographic uses a teal and yellow color scheme with cartoon illustrations of medical professionals and a person working at a computer. It's organized into sections with rounded rectangular callouts highlighting key guideline areas. The bottom includes institutional branding and a PubMed citation.

Zachary R Abramson, Daniel J Robertson, Nikhil R Shah, Keyonna M Williams, Mark L Ryan, Lincoln M Wong, Christopher Z Lam, Osama Raslan, Eric Diaz, Joseph C Fusco, Dhanashree Rajderkar, Alexander J Towbin, Erika A Newman, Andrew M Davidoff, Erin G Brown

Background: Three-dimensional (3-D) models are gaining interest for surgical planning in the field of pediatric surgical oncology. The diverse tumor types in pediatric patients and the non-uniform presentation and anatomy make 3D modeling in pediatric oncology particularly challenging. In addition, centers have variability in technique and experience with these approaches. Guidelines for model creation and quality assurance are notably absent.

Objective: We developed national recommendations pertaining to image acquisition and model creation for 3-D renderings based on the existing literature and multidisciplinary expertise. Materials and Methods: The literature was critically appraised, and the authors developed minimum standard guidelines for imaging and modeling pediatric solid tumors. Strength of recommendation scores for each guideline were independently determined by the authors. Results: Twelve specific guidelines were developed and scored with overall strength of recommendation ranging from moderate to very strong. Guidelines focused on image acquisition were uniformly scored very strongly while scores for those pertaining to segmentation and model display were slightly less consistent.

Conclusions: We propose minimum standards for image acquisition and modern 3-D modeling of pediatric solid tumors based on literature and expertise. The overall level of agreement among our multidisciplinary team was high.

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