Faster healing, clearer understanding of disease – Benefits of additive manufacturing for a trauma hospital

3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, is becoming increasingly popular in the medical industry, opening up new possibilities for innovative treatments and applications. One notable area where this technology is making waves is cosmetic surgery. With the precision offered by additive manufacturing, surgeons can meticulously plan treatments and intervention strategies, enhancing both accuracy and outcomes. But its potential doesn’t stop there—3D printing is also being explored as a life-saving tool for patients facing critical health challenges, showcasing its future promise in revolutionizing medical care.

ETZ (Elisabeth TweeSteden Ziekenhuis) is one of eleven trauma centers in the Netherlands. It is the only center in the country where trauma surgeons are present 24 hours a day. Therefore, the center serves as the main location for emergency patients in North Brabant. 3D Printing (additive manufacturingA) it has already been used to visualize bone fractures, but pioneering researchers believe it could also be used to actually treat themA of trauma patients.

Mike Bemelman, MD, trauma surgeon at ETZ, saw the potential in 3D printing as early as 2016. Together with Lars Brouwers, MD, PhD, and Koen Lansink, MD, trauma surgeon, they began conducting research on the benefits and effectiveness of 3D printing compared to traditional methods and other new technologies.

Their idea is to 3D print scanned bone fractures to provide both surgeons and patients with a clearer understanding of each situation before surgery.

3D printing of fractured bones

Lars began using the Ultimaker to print fractured bone structures. Therefore, surgeons can analyze the fracture not only by looking at it, but also by touching and rotating it, which adds important value to the surgery planning process.

Using water-soluble PVA support material, complex, organic geometries can be reproduced with small cavities and important details included.

Adapt 3D printing to your process

One challenge in adopting 3D printing has been finding a simple and efficient way to convert dicom files – the file used for CT scans – into 3D printable STL files.

Using the Philips IntelliSpace portal, Lars is able to directly export a 3D model of the scan, which he can prepare in Ultimaker Cura and then send to Ultimaker 3.

Benefits for the patient

After the patient is in stable condition, a CT scan is performed so that doctors can make a diagnosis. The CT scan information is immediately available to Lars in the 3D printing studio, where he can begin printing the patient’s fractured bone structure. 3D printing will be ready in a day.

“Our goal was to investigate whether 3D printing can make an important contribution to the classification of acetabular fractures. The conclusion of the research was that 3D printing has added value.”

Lars’ search results

When a patient has a fracture, doctors will look at X-rays or 2DCT scans and decide what treatment is appropriate. The better you understand the situation, the more precisely you can determine the correct procedure.

Surgeons will arrive at a solution using a scoring system known as kappa scoring.

IOn average, novice surgeons have a kappa score around 0.2 using traditional 2DCT images. Surgeons with more years of experience have a kappa score around 0.4.

Lars studied the score when surgeons used other techniques, such as 3DCT, 3D printing and VR visualization.

Using a 3D printed model, both new and experienced surgeons achieved a kappa score of between 0.6 and 0.7, which is the highest score among all methods.

The increase in kappa score demonstrates the effectiveness of 3D printing in decision making. By conducting this research, Lars hopes to demonstrate that 3D printing can benefit patient satisfaction, surgical satisfaction, operative time, and patient quality of life.

Disclaimer: Ultimaker 3D printers are designed and manufactured to produce fused filament with Ultimaker engineering thermoplastics in a commercial/enterprise environment.

The mix of precision and speed makes Ultimaker 3D printers the perfect machines for conceptual models, functional prototypes and small series production.

Although a very high standard has been achieved in the reproduction of 3D models with the use of Ultimaker Cura, the user remains responsible for qualifying and validating the application of the printed object for its intended use, which is particularly critical for applications in highly regulated fields such as medical devices and aeronautics.