RE: [rp-ml] 3D Printing for Medical Research

Very interesting application of RP.

Anyone know what material the fixtures are made of?

Kind regards,

Anthony O'Brien

Italian Wholesale Jewellers

Shop 54, Northgate Mall, North Riding, Gauteng

Tel: 011 794 4873

Cell: 084 581 3986

 <http://www.iwjdesigns.co.za> www.iwjdesigns.co.za

From: owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi] On Behalf
Of Nicholas Rivers
Sent: 12 July 2011 03:43 PM
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: RE: [rp-ml] 3D Printing for Medical Research

You may consider looking into what Materialise is doing with creating
fixtures to better locate where a surgeon will cut or set pins, etc. They do
this with one of their software packages. I was very impressed with this
when I visited them this summer. It is already in practice with Doctors in
Europe.

http://www.materialise.com/orthopaedics

Nicholas Rivers

VTM Division

cid:image004.jpg@01CBC9D0.46E870D0

InTech Industries Inc.

7180 Sunwood Drive NW

Ramsey, MN 55303-5100

763-576-8100 Main

763-576-8101 Fax

From: Dr. Glass DPM [mailto:glass.dpm@gmail.com]
Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 10:12 PM
To: rp-ml@rapid.lpt.fi
Subject: [rp-ml] 3D Printing for Medical Research

Hello all,

My Name is Nicholas Giovinco, and I am a medical/surgical resident in
Atlanta, Georgia. I'm currently working through the pilot phase of a
research project, whereby I'm using Reprap technology to print physical
models/templates of patient anatomy (after severe deformity or traumatic
insult). These models are reconstructed from high resolution scans of
patient's lower extremity and eventually become STL files, such as
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10661524/foot.stl

I've managed to get some test prints of this file, which look like:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/10661524/Rgt_Side_Foot-bck.jpg This model is a
patient with a Calcaneal fracture, as depicted.

As far as the gross anatomic shape, this is where the printed models will be
used for preoperative planning. People with complex deformities like
Charcot Foot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G9ZZ0MfbkU
Pilon Tibial/Ankle fractures - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vb2Hx6r3PAQ
Calcaneal fractures such as the foot model linked above

Surgical reconstruction of these feet is often challenging and can be
unpredictable. My goal with this medical/surgical research is to make
prints of the patients pathology, and be able to plan and prepare for the
case by having a practice template. This idea is somewhat unexplored in the
surgical realm, as it is often an expensive endeavor
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21613771.

In the year 2011, I feel that the increase in technology and the decrease in
cost is right for this to become common practice, soon. So far my pilot
looks a little something like this:
-Patient Pathology imaged with CT
-CT -> Print
-Print -> Surgeon for preoperative preparation/practice

The hypothesis is that surgical outcome will improve, as measurement of OR
time, complications, and overall decrease in intra-operative stress. This
will also reduce the cost of surgery, by not requiring expensive hardware or
biologic supplements, because a more sound and cost efficient hardware
construct will be applied. (plates, screws, frames, etc...)

I just wanted to introduce myself to this mailing list and send a shout out
to the FreesideAtlanta.org Space for their help in making it this far. It's
looking like a promising study, that would be a huge "here and now"
demonstration of Reprap technology at work in the medical field.

Thanks,

Nick

www.youtube.com/DrGlassDPM

www.drglass.org

glass.dpm@gmail.com

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