Design of 3D-Printed Nasopharyngeal Swabs for Children is Enabled by Radiologic Imaging

Z Starosolski; P Admane; J Dunn; B Kaziny; T A G M Huisman; A Annapragada

doi:10.3174/ajnr.A6794

Design of 3D-Printed Nasopharyngeal Swabs for Children is Enabled by Radiologic Imaging

AJNR Am J Neuroradiol. 2020 Dec;41(12):2345-2347. doi: 10.3174/ajnr.A6794. Epub 2020 Aug 27.

Authors

Z Starosolski¹, P Admane², J Dunn³, B Kaziny⁴, T A G M Huisman¹, A Annapragada⁵

Affiliations

¹ From the Edward B. Singleton Department of Radiology (Z.S., T.A.G.M.H., A.A.), Texas Children's Hospital, Feigin Center, Houston, Texas.
² Department of Radiology (P.A.), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas.
³ Medical Microbiology and Virology (J.D.), Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas.
⁴ Department of Pediatrics (B.K.), Texas Children's Hospital, Houston, Texas.
⁵ From the Edward B. Singleton Department of Radiology (Z.S., T.A.G.M.H., A.A.), Texas Children's Hospital, Feigin Center, Houston, Texas avannapr@texaschildrens.org.

Abstract

3D-printed nasopharyngeal swabs for COVID-19 molecular diagnostic testing address the national shortage of swabs. Swab designs for adult use were placed in the public domain in March 2020. Swabs for pediatric use, however, need to be smaller and more flexible to navigate delicate pediatric nasopharyngeal cavities. We describe a novel use of maxillofacial CT scans to aid in the design of pediatric nasopharyngeal swabs.

MeSH terms

Adult
COVID-19 / diagnosis*
COVID-19 Testing / instrumentation*
Child
Child, Preschool
Computer-Aided Design*
Disposable Equipment
Female
Humans
Infant
Male
Models, Anatomic*
Nasopharynx / diagnostic imaging
Nasopharynx / virology
Pediatrics / instrumentation*
Printing, Three-Dimensional*
SARS-CoV-2
Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Grants and funding

R61 HD105593/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States