Gaurav Manchanda, director of healthcare at Formlabs, explains how doctors can leverage 3D printing to walk patients through a procedure using a printed model of their own anatomy.
Patients might be used to seeing an X-ray machine at their doctor or specialist’s office, but what about a 3D printer? As the healthcare industry continues to face pressure to deliver more personalised, value-based care, doctors and surgeons are leveraging 3D printing to better prepare both themselves and their patients for upcoming procedures as part of preoperative planning and patient consultations.
Producing patient-specific 3D anatomical models
Every surgeon is well-versed in basic anatomy, but for uncommon and high-risk surgeries, a roadmap of a patient's individual anatomy can improve outcomes and understanding.
Instead of relying on traditional imaging and using a freehand approach for surgeries, physicians can produce highly patient-specific models from CT and MRI scans right on-site with a 3D printer. 3D printed anatomical models from patient scan data are becoming an increasingly useful tool in today’s practice of precision surgery. As cases become more complex and operating room efficiency becomes more important for routine cases, full-scale tactile reference models can enhance patient understanding and improve communication within operating room teams and with patients.
Rather than simply explaining difficult surgeries to patients, doctors can leverage 3D printing to walk them through the procedure using a printed model of their own anatomy. Literature shows that this process provides patients with a higher level of comfort, enabling them to give more informed consent for potential medical procedures for themselves or their children.
In addition to leveraging 3D printing to obtain more informed patient consent for upcoming surgeries and procedures, producing patient-specific, tactile reference models helps physicians better prepare for upcoming surgeries - potentially leading to reduced time, cost, and complication in the operating room. The ability to minimise time in the hospital is meaningful as it also minimises COVID exposure, reduces burnout for often overworked OR teams, and enables hospitals to efficiently work through surgical backlogs that have piled up since the onset of the pandemic.
All of these factors combined help to improve overall patient understanding and satisfaction, as well as the clinical and operational factors of procedures.
Real-life use and application
In a recent case study, a boy and his family were seeking medical attention for an old injury that was beginning to cause problems. The boy had broken two bones in his forearm, but because they had healed abnormally, new pain was developing, and his arm rotation was at just 50%. X-rays and a CT scan revealed a complex deformity of the boy’s radius and ulna. The standard treatment for this type of deformity is to regain rotation by trying to reshape the forearm bones—an invasive four-hour surgery.
Before committing to the procedure, the doctor had commissioned 3D prints of the bones in the affected extremity. The results were enlightening. With a 3D print of the boy’s arm in front of him, the doctor discovered that while the shape of the bone was abnormal, it wasn’t the shape of bone limiting rotation, but rather a tight structure of scar tissue between the bones. This tissue wouldn’t have shown in the x-ray, and the 3D model changed the doctor’s treatment recommendation from a four-hour complex osteotomy to a simpler, 30-minute soft tissue procedure which would be much less invasive, decrease rehabilitation time, and produce far less scarring.
The doctor was able to explain the benefits of the soft tissue procedure to the boy’s parents while using the 3D printed bones to talk through the concept: the new procedure would be much less invasive, decrease rehabilitation time, and produce far less scarring.
The future of 3D printing in healthcare
3D printing is at an inflection point within the healthcare industry. Once novel uses of medical 3D printing are becoming the standard to advance personalised patient care without raising costs. As the technology becomes more affordable, and clinical evidence becomes more widely available in a variety of specialties including orthopaedics and paediatrics, more hospitals and surgical centres will be able to provide enhanced physician and patient education to obtain more informed medical consent.
In 2022, demand will continue to grow for 3D printers that can deliver patient-specific anatomical replicas for surgical planning and patient education. Adoption of 3D printing in the medical industry will become more universal, and healthcare providers will rely on the method to innovate new medical advancements and treatments.
