CORRECTION: The print edition of this article wrongly stated that an in-house 3D printer could print 200,000 patient-specific models a year. It would in fact save €200,000 a year in 3D printing costs.
Stratasys
René Martin, Business Manager for Healthcare EMEA at 3D printing pioneer Stratasys, is passionate about the roadmap additive manufacturing is laying down for the medical industry, both in terms of what is achievable today, and in the future.
"3D printing can connect all of the medical industry stakeholders," he told EPPM. "Everybody needs to reduce costs but at the same time they need to improve patient care somehow. We think this technology can provide different value propositions and help people reduce costs and at the same time improve patient care due to the technology's capabilities."
Martin explained that finding this value proposition in a hospital environment requires looking at additive manufacturing technology in a holistic context. If a patient has an accident, they are brought in an ambulance to the emergency room and the first investigation they have is a CT or MRI scan. If a fracture or a serious injury is discovered based on the scan, a patient-specific printed model of the affected area can be created from the scan data and a surgical guide can be 3D printed for the surgeon to help him or her prepare for the necessary operation. But why would having this 3D model bring value to such a scenario?
Beyond the CT scan
"Surgeons will always tell you the only truth is when you see the patient open on the table, because then you can identify [the problem] with your fingers and your eyes. A CT scan is good but you can't hold it in your hand. At the end of the day there's no room for interpretation or room for mistakes, whereas if you have a patient-specific model in your hand, you can achieve 100 per cent visibility and plan the surgical intervention. Maybe it's not so dangerous and you can avoid unnecessary surgical intervention," Martin stated.
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Stratasys
In the case of maxillofacial surgery where a patient has an orbital fracture requiring an implant, for example, a patient-specific 3D printed model can serve as a template for the implant, which saves time in the operating theatre reducing hospital costs while increasing diagnostic visibility. And one day the implant itself will be 3D printed as standard.
"In future we will be talking about [3D printing] plastic implants such as hip or knee replacements. We as an industry are on a very good track to find new materials for usage inside the body so we can replace titanium implants," Martin explained.
Titanium or steel will always be treated as foreign when in the body, which makes these operations especially complicated. With polymers, however, practitioners can create implants to a specific accuracy in an inert material that is less likely to be rejected by the body.
Model behaviour
Until the 3D printing technology is implantable, surgeons can rely on 3D-printed models and the good news is the more models a hospital prints, the more economical the technology is and Martin believes most hospital departments will be able to benefit from 3D print guides and models in-house.
Stratasys
For example, a maxillofacial department at a hospital in Sweden orders 100 3D printed models from external service providers a year and regardless of the body part, this costs between €1,500 and €2,000 per part. Far cheaper to have a 3D printer in-house which could save 3D printing costs by around €200,000.
"This is definitely the future because with this we will improve patient care, improve the clinical outcome and we will massively reduce the operational costs," said Martin.
But who manages the 3D printing of surgical models? Martin believes the technicians who carry our CT and MRI scans and X-rays have the technical understanding of the imagery and are best suited for the job of managing the additive manufacturing side, which reduces model turnaround from four days to 6 hours using machinery that is reliable enough and capable of producing models 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 10 years.
"Reliability for the healthcare sector is what Stratasys provides," Martin stated. "Reliability for stakeholders that we have great biocompatible materials technology and two different printing solutions (FDM and PolyJet) allowing you to create patient-specific surgical guides or anatomical models for training, plus our service partners and resellers. That's a very good bundle to offer the healthcare sector."
