Purpose or Case Report: Educational simulators provide a means for students and experts to learn and refinesurgical skills. Our objective was to develop a cost-effective, patient-derived medical simulacrum for cerebral lateral ventriculostomy.
Methods & Materials: A cost-effective patient-derived medical simulacrum was developed for placement of an external lateral ventriculostomy. Elastomeric and gel casting techniques were used to achieve realistic brain geometry and material properties. 3D printing technology was leveraged to develop accurate cranial properties and dimensions. An economical, gravity-driven pump was developed to provide normal and abnormal ventricular pressures. A small pilot study was performed to gauge simulation efficacy using a technology acceptance model.

Results: An accurate geometric representation of the brain was developed with independent lateral cerebral ventricular chambers. A gravity-driven pump pressurized the ventricular cavities to physiologic values. A qualitative study illustrated that the simulation has potential as an educational tool to train medical professionals in the ventriculostomy procedure.
Conclusions: The ventricular simulacrum can improve learning in a medical education environment. Rapid prototyping and multi-material casting techniques can produce patient-derived models for costeffective and realistic surgical training scenarios.