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

National expert consensus establishes 12 imaging guidelines for 3-D modeling in pediatric solid tumor surgery, covering acquisition parameters and processing techniques. High agreement on technical acquisition standards, moderate agreement on segmentation and display methods. Addresses variability in institutional approaches to preoperative 3-D modeling for complex pediatric oncology cases.

First national guidelines establish minimum standards for 3-D tumor modeling in pediatric surgical oncology to address variability in technique.
Image acquisition protocols received strongest consensus (very strong recommendation) among multidisciplinary experts for standardization.
Twelve evidence-based guidelines now provide quality assurance framework for centers creating 3-D models for pediatric tumor resection planning.
Pediatric solid tumors require specialized modeling approaches due to diverse tumor types and non-uniform anatomical presentations.
Multidisciplinary consensus achieved high agreement on standards bridging radiology, surgery, and oncology for preoperative 3-D visualization.

Written by the GCMD Library team from the infographic.

A three-column comparison layout with medical illustrations of esophageal procedures. Each column contains anatomical diagrams in blue and pink tones showing the esophagus and stomach, accompanied by bullet-pointed text describing outcomes. The layout uses a clean, educational design with consistent formatting across columns.

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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