The new device allows you to plan and reduce the incision made in the patient and remove a small portion of the bone, removing only the necessary tissues.
Planning surgeries in more detail, explaining procedures to the patient with life-size printed images or figures, performing more precise interventions with shorter recovery times, are the main features of 3D technology applied in medicine, listed by experts in this matter . Exceptional progress in the field.
The Biomodels and 3D Printing Laboratory, inaugurated last March at the Arturo Jauretche National University (UNAJ), works together with Florencio Varela’s El Cruces Hospital, located in the city of Buenos Aires, and surgical guides made of bio-compatible materials. Has succeeded in developing. They provide greater efficiency in cutting and reduce surgical and patient recovery time.
Ignacio Marola, a representative of the laboratory, said that, in addition, in the chemical engineering department of that hospital, last October a new area was inaugurated – of which he is also in charge – called biomedical modeling and that “the plan Is developing. To define current services and strategically see where we can expand projects, which are carried out in coordination with UNAJ.
3D therapy is “a great advance” because it allows “personalization.” The main thing is to “make a 3D print for the plan” and reduce the incision made, or remove a small part of the bone, removing only the necessary tissues, which is all, on the one hand, less risk in general. provide. , but there is also a faster recovery because the procedure is less invasive, explained the expert in a conversation with Tellum.
“When a patient has an accident and the brain becomes swollen, a cut is made so that it deflates without applying pressure to the skull, then, temporarily, the cut is covered with a material is changed and with 3D technology you create a precise mold so that it fits perfectly and is made in advance and with great precision,” he said.
Marola specified that, among other things, “moulds for cutting guides, spacers for traumatology” were also made, and that one of the main challenges of the laboratory is the acquisition of a metal printer to create individual prostheses and to do so For, “We are working on agreements with other public and private organizations.”
Laboratories and use of technology
The UNAJ laboratory is equipped with 4 3D printers, a 3D scanner, an oven to heat the filament and homogenize it “so that the prints come out better and another printer that allows printing on a large range of materials, including a Also included is something called Peak, which is biocompatible, and we make cutting guides with it,” he explained.
In this framework, Australia University Hospital inaugurated the Institute of 3D Medicine (IM3D), a health center for computer-assisted medicine and 3D planning, which will provide new insights into diagnostic and therapeutic options, said Marcos Gali Serra, area coordinator. Brings about “revolutionary” change.
At IM3D, which addresses a wide range of cases, “we can offer another service within medicine, an extraordinary advancement because it is much more specialized, personalized and offers many advantages in terms of timing, planning and accuracy.” Does.”
“Doctors and institutions must also have responsibility for deciding on which patients this technology can be used, because there are cases in which it is really necessary and other simple cases in which conventional treatments work perfectly,” the coordinator said. Are.”
“We wanted to have a laboratory within the hospital so that impressions would not have to be handed over to other centers and, in this way, all care could be provided in a comprehensive way,” said Gali Serra. With technicians, imaging specialists, biomedical engineers and all of us involved in the process.
According to the doctor, many of the cases in which 3D medicine is used involve people with bone tumors from which a “piece” must be removed and this is plotted in advance so the surgeon can know. That’s the smallest part they can remove and, thus, less tissue is removed and the patient’s recovery is taken care of.
Likewise, these models are used to explain in detail to the patient, “many of whom are pediatric, and to their families”, what the intervention is going to be like, by printing in 3D and in real size “a femur. Or whatever is happening “should now be demonstrated to show it in a more educational and easier to understand way,” he continued.
Gali Serra highlighted that IM3D also has built-in cutting guides that serve to precisely specify it, avoiding removing or damaging the surrounding tissue and knowing those dimensions even before the surgery. .
“So, the patient comes, he is diagnosed and all the molds he needs are made here, if he needs a prosthesis we see if there is a mold in the market with those exact dimensions and if not So the mold is made and then, according to the medical coverage, you contact a firm that prints on metal for its final realization,” the expert explained.
In this sense, Gali Serra explained that “everything that is implanted in the patient must be approved and authorized by ANMAT, this is done by companies that have to follow a series of very strict rules and Specific traceability has to be maintained.”
And he warned that specialized prostheses are “highly recommended, especially in pediatric patients, because if they can be developed in a way that preserves the cartilage, it will allow the rest of the bone – which can be preserved.” could increase, which translates into quality of life”.
Printing bone parts through 3D technology contributes a lot at the time of consultation, because “you can show it: the patient can see it, touch it and get a better idea of what the procedure will be like,” says Galli. Soler said and added that “it is very important that both the patient and family not only authorize the treatment, but understand it and are confident in doing it.”
There is also a bone bank at Austral University Hospital, which is regulated by Inkukai and, “With 3D medicine we can make molds and cut the bones to the size we need to replace that unique and essential bone piece.” and surgeries are less common than others.” Can be done and it also allows us to use only the amount needed for the bone and get a larger number of pieces for others.
Gali Soler emphasized that better planning of surgery “in most cases” means greater precision in cuts, less invasive procedures that achieve faster recovery, which is fundamental in the patient’s quality of life.
“The medical group plans and sees many times more surgeries than before, when the doctor had to look at an X-ray, tomography or MRI and make decisions by looking at the problem on paper, on a plan and imagining it in his mind. How and where things are, now in 3D it’s much easier, you can see dimensions and distances,” he explained.
The expert also considered 3D technology applied in medicine as “extraordinary progress” because “earlier there were patients who, due to their deformities, did not use any standard prostheses and lost their limbs, today this has changed. And it’s really very important.”
3D medicine “is very evolving, for me the big challenges are that doctors understand the correct use of the technology, not use it on all patients, find the right indications, be responsible when making decisions.”
On the other hand, in the future, “I think there will be a lot of progress in everything related to biological 3D printing”, I feel like it’s a very cool area of the future and that, as well as that, it’s necessary That public and private institutions get involved in research and development, much of which is already being done.
Source: Telam